Skyrim: The Awakening of Beasts
by RaidenTheSwordsman
Summary: While trying to cross the border's of Skyrim, Layla Embers is captured along with members of the Stormcloak Rebellion. There is one other person who is also with them. A man who the Thalmor seem to despise and it seems that this man's destiny is intertwined with Layla's but what are their destinies and why are they intertwined? OCxFem!Dragonborn(Possibly OCxFem!DragonbornxSerana)
1. Chapter 1

**I should probably explain where I've been the past few weeks and I'm starting a new story. Well I should probably start off by saying what's been going on in my family recently. At the beginning of the August my dad had surgery because he was having some issues. So after the surgery, he went back for a checkup to see how he was doing. The doctors found out that there were cancer cells in his body. Meaning that he has cancer. He told me and my brother at the beginning of September and it just really upset me. It's not easy finding out that a family member has cancer and that's why I put my stories on hold. So that I could spend some more time with my dad and sort through my emotions. I recently felt good enough to start writing again. As to why I'm writing a new story, well… I thought fuck it why not. I've love Skyrim more than I do Fallout because it just feels a lot more my style. There will be a bunch of differences in this story and some of the events will be out of order but I hope you enjoy nonetheless. So let's get this story started.**

She awoke to her head throbbing like she had too much mead. Her eyes shot open and she instantly regretted it. A few rays of light pierced through the fog and right into her eyes making her wish she was still unconscious . Her vision was blurry and she could only make out fuzzy shapes in front of her. The damn ringing in her ears wouldn't go away as well but she could tell that somebody was trying to talk to her.

Her vision cleared and she could see a man with long blonde hair wearing a Stormcloak tunic. She blinked a few times trying to get the remaining blurriness out of her eyes. "What?" She asked not having heard what he said before.

"I was asking if you were ok there. You took quite the blow to the head back when we were all captured by that Imperial ambush. You should have been dead after taking a hit like that but I guess Nord women are as strong and tough as the men are." He said with a chuckle causing her to look at him confused before she realised what he meant. She WAS a Nord which she sometimes forgot but her family lived as nomads before deciding to live up the mountains of Skyrim, away from all conflict and big cities.

She shook her head, her long blonde hair swaying from side to side as she did. "I've been better. My head hurts like hell but I'll live. I'm Layla. Who are you?" Layla asked.

"Ralof of Riverwood. You can probably tell I'm a Stormcloak based on my clothing." He said with a chuckle. "Though, it looks like they took all of your stuff from you." Ralof gestured to her state of clothing with is bound hands. She looked down and noticed that she was wearing nothing but roughspun tunic and pants with nothing on her feet to protect her from the cold. She let out a growl as the pendent her mother had given her was not on her neck.

"GIVE ME BACK MY NECKLACE YOU BASTARDS! MY MOTHER GAVE ME THAT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs causing Ralof, the man next to him, and the man next to Layla to jump. Even the guard driving the carriage as well as the Imperial wearing decorated armor jumped at her scream. When the soldier driving the carriage to say something, he saw the pure rage in her bright green eyes and gulped before turning around.

Not a minute later she felt someone put the necklace around her neck, surprising her and the other three captives in the carriage. Layla spun around after the necklace was secured around her neck to see a man wearing Imperial armor riding alongside them on horseback. He had brown hair and heterochromatic eyes. "I'm sorry we took away something so important to you. We had no idea it meant so much to you." He said and with that he slowed his horse until it was trotting alongside a carriage that held a single person who looked to be sitting in a meditative state.

"Who's that?" The man sitting next to Layla asked with curiosity. He eyed the person in the cage who had his back to them.

"That would be the Nord known as the 'Darkblade'." Ralof said as he eyed the man carefully. "I saw him take down twenty-five soldiers during the ambush with some kind of magic. He claimed that we were all in 'His territory'." Ralof said. "I'm sorry we dragged him into this mess. He was probably trying to defend the land that the Empire hasn't taken yet."

Layla stared curiously at the man in the cage. She could see the long mane of black hair that reached his upper back. He wore what looked like some kind of light armor. It looked like some of the armor a member of the Thieves guild would wear but the sleeves had been ripped off at the shoulders, revealing his insanely refined muscles. On his hands were a pair of black vambraces that had fingerless gloves attached to them. His lower half was covered by some black leather pants and black leather boots. Chains were attached to all four of his limbs from the corners of the cage along with a collar attached to his neck.

Layla felt something inside her stir as she watched him just sit there. She couldn't place what she was feeling inside of her but she decided to ignore it. She looked across from her and cocked her head to the side. There sat a man dressed in Jarl's clothing with a piece of cloth tied over his mouth. He had honey colored hair which was drawn back. "Is that Jarl Ulfric?" She asks as she leans forward to inspect him.

"You'd be right then. That's Jarl Ulfric. True High King." Ralof said as they passed through the gates of Helgen before coming to a stop in front of a group of High Elves dressed in black cloaks. "The Thalmor…" Ralof growled low as he watched a female Thalmor who obviously looked like she was in charge, pass by the carts, examining the prisoners. She stopped when she came to the nord known as 'Darkblade'.

"Well now isn't this a surprise. You have cost me quite a number of soldiers. You couldn't give up those mountains that you are so keen on protecting." She glared at the man sitting in the cage. "Your head will be cut clean off by the headsman today and we'll take that land of yours." She said with a sneer.

"What a surprise… Another Thalmor bitch throwing around empty threats." The comeback came from the man in the cage. He was now standing and everybody could see his face. A scar ran down his left eye as well as three parallel scars running across his left cheek. His eyes were blood red and held an intensity that startled a good amount of the soldiers behind the Thalmor Commander. "If I hadn't been so preoccupied on trying to keep the damage to the land to a minimum I would have killed all of these soldiers with ease." He said as his glare matched the Thalmor's glare but with more hate filled.

She visibly flinched at the glare and walked back to where General Tullius, leader of the Imperial Army, was sitting on his horse. "Where is his weapon?" She looked at the General who simply sighed at having to deal with this woman.

"We couldn't find it. My men spent several hours scouring the area for it but they could never find it." He stated and with that he urged his horse down the road leaving an infuriated Thalmor leader behind. The carts continued following his lead and soon enough they stopped next to a massive tower.

"Why are we stopping?" The man next to Layla cried in fear. She had learned that his name was Lokir who came from Rorikstead. "What are they doing?!" He cried as they started unloading various prisoners, mostly stormcloaks, from the carriages.

"What does it look like? This is the end of the line." Ralof said as he, Layla, and Ulfric Stormcloak stood up and left the carriage. As Layla hopped off, she saw that five soldiers held the ends of the chains that were attached to the other, more dangerous, prisoner. Crimson red eyes met bright green eyes and Layla felt that same feeling from before swell up inside her. She couldn't figure it out but it felt like a part of her she never knew was missing was back in place. Lokir ran past her screaming about not wanting to die before the archers positioned around town shot him with arrows, leaving him to bleed to death in the streets.

She was shoved forward by an Imperial captain who looked extremely annoyed with her. "Move it prisoner." She was shoved forward towards the group of prisoners who were all standing before a headsman who wielded a massive axe. A priestess stood next to him and was giving off rights to those destined for the chopping block.

She watched as a Stormcloak soldier interrupted the priest and knelt before the headsman. He looked at the Imperial soldiers and mocked them as his neck was placed on the chopping block. The headsman quickly chopped the man's head off. ' _How sad that this is what Skyrim has come to… brothers killing brothers.'_ She thought as she was pushed forward by the captain again.

"Move it wench… It's your turn to die." The captain said with no patience at all. Layla looked over at Hadvar who was watching with sadness. Before she could take a step forward a loud roar echoed in the distance making everybody jump at the sound. The man in chains stiffened at the sound, almost like he knew what it was.

"Anybody else here that?" One of the guards asked as he gripped his bow tightly.

"It was probably just the local wildlife. Now I said move it wench!" The captain pushed Layla forward causing her to stumble. The clinking of chains and groaning of metal being bent could be heard coming from the chained Nord as he watched with pure anger. "Silence him!" She ordered pointing her sword at the captive.

Layla watched the captive as he seemed angered by the fact that she was being executed. She wondered why someone like him, a killer, would be angered by such things. She was a nobody. A nomadic Nord traveling around with her family.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a giant black dragon landed on the watchtower overlooking the execution area. "Zu'u lost daal wah du hin sil!" The dragon said as it let out a roar that had everybody knocked off their feet and meteors began falling from the sky.

A disorientated Layla was laying on the ground with a ringing in her ears that she could not quiet down. She could hear voices around her but couldn't make out what they were saying. She then felt a pair of strong arms pick her up bridal style. She could make out that it was Nord that had been chained up who was currently carrying her safely out of harm's way. He carried her into a nearby tower where the Stormcloaks seemed to be hiding from the dragon. The Nord gently sat her down against the wall and carefully undid her bindings. He was saying something to her but was still slightly muffled by the ringing in her ears.

She shook her head to clear the ringing and looked at his crimson red eyes that were filled with worry. "What did you say?" She asked as she rubbed her wrists.

"I said we need to get out of here. That dragon is killing everyone here." He said as he checked her for any injuries.

Ralof seemed be watching the man closely. "How can we trust you? We don't know your name and we don't even know who your allegiance belongs to." The other Stormcloaks seemed to agree with Ralof.

"Enough. This is no time to be questioning each other. Right now we have other things to worry about. Like that dragon." Ulfric said as he defused the situation. "But I would like to know the name of the man who took down some of those Thalmor soldiers before they could take any more lives." Ulfric said as the gestured towards his men.

"Blake Darkstride." Blake said as he stood up facing the other soldiers.

"An uncommon name. You're not from Skyrim are you?" Ulfric asked.

"I am from Skyrim. My mother found the name in an old book that was in another language and thought the name fit perfectly with our family name." Blake said with a shrug as the tower shook as the dragon's head smashed through the upper level and turned the soldier unlucky enough to be up there, into a burnt corpse. "We can talk later. We need to move! One of you needs to take this girl and get her to the keep on the other side. I'll distract the giant lizard in the sky." He said as he walked quickly towards the door.

"W-Wait…" Layla said in a hoarse voice. Blake turned and looked at her with a curious expression. "I-I wanted to say thank you for saving my life." She said as she looked at him.

Blake merely nodded and walked towards the door again. "How do you plan on distracting that dragon without a weapon?" Ralof said, stopping Blake at the door.

"I always have my weapon on hand." Blake said as dark and white mist swirled around his hip and formed into a long sheathe with etchings of dragon's on it the hilt of the sword was black as night itself. Everybody took a step back away from him. "I will explain my lineage later on. For now get going. I doubt I can keep it distracted for long." He dashed outside without another word. Ralof and Ulfric looked at each other with concerned expressions. Ralof picked up Layla carefully and went upstairs to make his way through town while trying to avoid the dragon.

As he descended into what was likely once a tavern, Layla pulled herself out of his arms and stood on her own. Though she had some trouble at first, Ralof supported her. "Let's go." Layla said as she stumbled out of the destroyed tavern. She and Ralof ran down the street towards a few people that were hidden behind a wall. Among them was Hadvar, who glared at Ralof who also glared back. The black dragon landed on the street a little bit away. It was about to breathe fire at them when an arrow came flying from the watchtower in the middle and harmlessly bounced off the scales below the dragon's right eye. The arrow however, managed to get the dragon's attention away from the small group as it turned to the direction from where the arrow came. It spotted Blake standing on top of the tower with an imperial bow in his hands and a quiver full of arrows on his back.

The dragon let out a roar as it flew into the air. "Duziir mun! Zu'u fen du hin sil!" It circled around Blake's tower as it tried to burn him alive with fire.

This gave the small group the chance to escape. Layla noticed a boy who looked like was only six years old, crying over the remains of what she assumed was his father. She quickly picked him up and carried her with them. They ran towards the gate they had come through earlier. The two civilians, Ralof, and Hadvar made it through but Layla and the boy were stopped when a meteor crashed into the gate. The gate crumbled and cut off their exit. "Shit!" Layla screamed as she ran in the direction of the massive keep which she could only assume was the barracks or some sort of keep.

The boy was crying in her arms as she ran towards the keep. A meteor slammed into the gate next to the keep and sent giant splinters of wood flying in all directions. Layla use her body to shield the small child. She succeeded in doing so but a large shard of wood pierced her leg causing her to fall forward. She still held onto the small boy as she tried to keep him safe but when she saw the massive dragon land between her and the keep… she hoped that her body would be enough to protect the boy from harm. ' _Mother...Father...Little Brother...I'll be joining you soon…'_

"Yol... Toor... Shul!" The dragon shouted as massive flames came at her. She squeezed her eyes shut waiting for the pain. Instead of pain, she felt herself thrown to the side. She opened her eyes to see Blake standing where she was laying with slight burns covering his body. She didn't understand how he wasn't burned to charcoal. The dragon seemed to take off into the sky after it stared at Blake for a second.

Blake quickly ran over to Layla who was sitting up with the sobbing boy still scared out of his mind. "Where's the stormcloak soldier that was with you?" Blake asked as he picked up Layla with ease and full on sprinted towards the keep.

"They went through the main gate but… It was destroyed before me or this boy could get through it." She said quietly as her mind flashed to the slightly burned corpse of the man who had been this boy's father. "This boy's father… didn't make it…"

"Damnit!" Blake cursed as he kicked open the door to the keep. He laid Layla down on the closest bed. He quickly inspected her leg which was covered in blood. "I have to pull this out. Try and endure ok?" He said as he gripped the large shard of wood.

Layla took a deep breath and nodded. Blake ripped out the shard causing her to cry out in pain. She held onto the boy tightly to try and ignore the pain but it only worked slightly. Blake's hand became engulfed in a yellowish light as he hovered his hand over her injury. Her body felt so warm as he applied the spell to her. She watched as the wound on her leg closed quickly leaving a small faint scar. She breathed deeply as the pain was gone. "Thank you but why did you save me in the first place? You could have easily escaped this place. Instead you went out there and distracted the dragon while saving me three times."

"It was the right thing to do. My mother has always taught me to protect those who can't protect themselves." Blake said as he rummaged through the chests in the barracks. Layla watched him with curiosity. He threw a set of leather armor at her. "Here put this on. It's better than wearing those rags you have on now." He said.

She looked down at her body and realized that the more intimate parts of her body were barely covered by the rags. She blushed slightly and nodded. "Thank you." She said as she let go of the boy and grabbed the armor.

"Cmon kid. Let's go look for gold coins while she changes." Blake said as he looked at the kid with kind sympathetic eyes. The boy stared at him for a few seconds before jumping off the bed Layla was on and following Blake out of the small room.

Layla watched them leave the room, the young boy asking Blake question after question. Blake reached down and tousled the boy's hair. Layla saw that his skin was no longer slightly burned as it had been after the fire had hit him. ' _Did he drink a potion? I don't remember him drinking one and I don't remember him healing himself either. But why wasn't he severely burned when that fire attack hit him. Even with fire enchanted armor he still would have had major burns.'_ She thought as she changed into the form fitting leather gear.

After she finished changing, Blake and the boy came back to the room. A backpack was given to her as well as a steel dagger. "Did you find anything else we could use?" Layla asked.

"Me and Haming only found some weapons, about a hundred gold coins, some documents, and a spell book." Blake said as he handed the spell book to Layla. "It's a spell that lets someone conjure fire. Wouldn't be of much use to me but I figured that you may want to have the spell." Blake said with a shrug and spun a key on his pointer finger.

Layla opened the book and memorized the spell inside before closing it and putting it in her bag for later use. She kneeled down in front of Haming and looked into the boy's eyes. "How are you doing?" She rubbed the side of his head.

"I-I-I miss papa and mama…" He said as tears threatened to spill from his eyes. Layla quickly hugged him and rubbed his back.

"Shhh Shhh it's ok." Layla said as she took the boy's small hand into her own. "We'll be with you the entire time." Layla sent a quick glance at blake who nodded at Layla's statement.

"C'mon let's go before the dragon brings this place down on us. I'll lead. You keep the kid safe." Blake said as he opened up a gate that led deeper into the keep.

Blake peeked out into the long stretching hallway that led down deeper into the cave system. "Ok it's clear." He walked down the corner, keeping his hand on the hilt of his blade he walked further down with Layla and Haming close behind. A rumble shook the entire place which caused the ceiling to collapse halfway down the corridor.

"Well there goes that route…" Layla muttered as they approached the rubble. She looked to the side to see a door with muffled voices coming from inside. "Hey look…" She whispered and pointed towards the door. Blake nodded and crouched down as he approached the door.

Blake opened the door slightly and saw two Imperial soldiers arguing. One of them was digging through the barrel and pulling out various potions while the other looked to be a captain. Blake turned to Layla and held up two fingers and motioned for her to stay put. Layla nodded and pulled Hamming away from the door.

Blake slowly opened the door and silently approached the soldiers. The one who was digging in the barrel had his back to the door while the captain was pulling barrels out of the way to reveal a large chest. Blake slowly approached the subordinate while slowly drawing his sword.

Layla who was watching from the corner looked at the beauty of the sword. The blade of the sword was a pure white color that seemed to have its own aura of energy around it. Blake thrust his sword through the soldier's back. The soldier's blood splattered over the barrel. The Captain, having turned around the moment his subordinate was stabbed, rushed at Blake with his sword drawn and a warcry emerging from him. Blake parried the strike from the captain and took the opening that his parry had caused to run his sword through the soldier's armor and chest like both were butter.

He dragged both bodies into the corner and covered them with barrels so that Haming wouldn't have to see the bodies. "You can come in now. It's all clear." Blake said as he sheathed his sword. He walked over the barrel that the one imperial had been rummaging through and cut the top of the barrel open. Blake peered inside to see a bunch of magicka and health potions. A small smile appeared on his face as he pulled out the contents.

"You know… You look a lot more handsome with a smile on your face." Layla said as she stepped into the room with Haming clinging to her leg. "You should smile more."

Blake handed her the potions thinking she would probably need them more than he would. "Most people wouldn't describe me as 'handsome'. Ever since I was eleven, people have been afraid of me. They feared me because of my eyes and my name." He said with no emotion in his voice but Layla could clearly see the pain and sadness in his eyes.

"Well we're going to have to prove them wrong now aren't we?" She said with a smile causing Blake to give her a confused look as he pushed the door leading to the closed off section of the hallway open.

"We?"

"You don't expect a beautiful girl like me to protect herself and a small child all by herself?" She said as she smiled as Blake gave her a deadpan expression. She giggled when Blake turned around and muttered something about women getting what they want.

They walked down the staircase and came to the dead bodies of both stormcloak soldiers and two Imperial Interrogators. Layla had Blake take Haming out of the room as she started grabbing some things she might need. She was good at lockpicking so she was able to open up a cage that had what looked like a mage inside of it. She said some prayers for his soul before taking the gold laying next to him as well as the enchanted hood. She then looted the other dead bodies for any gold or valuables that they may need. She found another steel dagger on one of the Imperial soldiers and strapped it to her thigh along with the other dagger. She found some steel and iron arrows in the armory in the back corner of the room but found no bow for the arrows.

She sighed and said some prayers for each of the dead before exiting the room to see Blake showing Haming his sword. The young boy's eyes were wide and amazed at the blade. Blake had a smile on his face further proving Layla's point about him looking more attractive with a smile.

Blake noticed her and sheathed his blade, much to Haming's disappointment. He nodded to her and started walking down the hall. "Stay here. I'm going to scout ahead."

Blake eventually came to a large cavern with a small river flowing beneath the bridge. There were dead bodies scattered all across layout, Stormcloak and Imperial alike. As Blake stepped into the cavern, he was instantly taken off guard when a Stormcloak soldier slammed into him. He was bigger than most of the other soldiers and was covered in blood. He had a wicked grin on his face. "I wonder how your blood tastes? After I'm done killing you and tasting your blood… that bitch that was with you has a mighty fine body… I hope you don't plan on-" He was cut off when two steel daggers were plunged into his back. The Stormcloak let out a warcry and pulled Layla off of him and threw her against one of the far walls. "STUPID BITCH!"

He approached Layla making her scramble backwards until her back was against the wall. "STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Blake let out a roar and charged at him with his right hand on the hilt of his sword. The soldier turned around and was met with Blake drawing his sword and landing a massive cut across the Stormcloak soldier's chest. The man stumbled back but instead of falling to the ground dead, he grabbed Blake's head and headbutted him hard.

Layla quickly pried an imperial sword out of a soldier's hand and stabbed the Stormcloak in the chest, right through his heart, as he turned to advance on her again. He started spitting up blood and Layla realizing what she had done, watched as the life faded from his eyes. Layla let go of the sword and fell to her knees as she watched the now lifeless man fall onto his back, sword still in his heart. This had been the first time she had killed another human being. She had hunted animals before but never a human. Layla looked down at her now blood covered hands. Only then did she burst into tears.

She was kneeling there holding herself and crying before she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her and hug her close. She felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her and she instantly jerked her head up to see a pair of crimson red eyes filled with sympathy. She let out a sob and cried into Blake's chest as he rubbed the back of her head. Haming had come over at one point and had wrapped his short arms around Layla's arm in an attempt to comfort her.

A few minutes went by and Layla had cried herself to sleep. Blake had picked her up bridal style, with Haming clinging to his back, and wrapped a cloak from one of the soldiers, around her. He grabbed as many arrows from the dead as well as a bow that Layla could use. He figured she was better at archery than anything else. He would have to help her get over the fact that she killed someone later on. For now, his main priority was getting them out of these caves and away from Helgen.

 **Scene Break**

When Layla woke up she found herself staring at the stars and the two moons of Nirn, Secunda and Masser. She blinked as she tried to recall what happened to her. Then all of it came back to her. Helgen, the dragon attacking, the young boy she had saved, Blake, and then… The killing of the Stormcloak soldier. Layla bolted upright and immediately looked at her hands but found them clean of blood. She looked around trying to figure out where she was. She noticed Haming sleeping in a bedroll laid out on the grass. He looked at peace despite what had just occurred.

"You're awake." She whipped her head in the direction of the voice and saw Blake sitting against a nearby tree with his sword leaning up against his shoulder. He was staring at the sky, looking at the stars and the moons. "You've been asleep for the whole day. I had to carry you and Haming out of the caves. I take it that was your first time killing another human being?" He stated rather than asked.

"How did you…" Layla was about to ask but was interrupted when Blake started chuckling. "What?"

"I know because I was the exact same way after my first kill. You just need to remind yourself that it was self defense." He said as he finally stopped looking at the sky to look at her. "Try and get more rest. It's still too early for you to be awake. We're going to be traveling to Riverwood once we've eaten." He said as he motioned for her to lay back down.

Layla pulled the cover of the bedroll over top of her as she laid back down. "Blake… Thank you." She said before drifting off to sleep, leaving a very surprised Blake.

"Thank you, eh?" He mumbled to himself. "Don't be so nice to me… I might end up getting attached to you." He resumed his watch as the other two members of the small party slept. He kept thinking about the dragon that attacked Helgen. ' _Dragon's haven't been around since Tiber Septim. Where are they coming from and why now of all times?'_ He thought as he watched the two moons disappear from the sky as the sun began to rise on the horizon. He watched as Haming began to stir from his slumber and sat up looking around. "Morning kid." Blake said as he reached over and ruffled the boy's hair.

"What are we having for breakfast?" Haming asked as his stomach rumbled making Blake chuckle.

"I'll go search for something to eat. Think you can do me a favor and keep an eye out for trouble while I find something?" Blake asked making Haming nod. "Good." Blake stood up and disappeared into the forest.

It was at this time that Layla woke up and let out a loud yawn. "Good morning Haming. Where's Blake at?"

"He went to go find food for breakfast. He left me in charge so you have to do as I say." Haming said as he crossed his arms over his chest with a prideful nod.

Layla giggled at the young boy and started making a fire using some of the cut up logs nearby. She lit the fire using the flame spell she had learned earlier. Blake came back not long after with a few rabbits slung over his shoulder. He quickly skinned and cleaned the rabbits with Layla helping. They taught Haming about skinning and catching animals in the forest. Once that was done, they cooked the rabbit meat over the fire. They passed around a canteen of water that Blake had obtained from a hunter he had encountered while hunting.

They then traveled down the path towards the small town of Riverwood. Once they entered town they were immediately greeted by Ralof and Hadvar arguing about going back to Helgen to search for survivors. They only stopped arguing when Blake punched them both in the face telling them to stop acting like children since they had bigger problems to worry about.

Ralof rubbed his nose as he stared up at Blake who had an annoyed look on his face. "How did you three get out of Helgen alive? Last we saw the woman she was carrying Haming towards the gate before it collapsed. You were trying to distract that dragon so that everybody could get away."

Layla slid Haming off her back and stepped up next to Blake. "We went through Helgen keep. Blake carried me out after I became unconscious when we were trying to get out." Layla said as she sat on the steps to the smith's house. "What happened to the dragon that attacked?" She looked at Ralof and Hadvar as they exchanged a worried glance.

"We saw it fly towards Whiterun after turning Helgen to ash but we lost sight of it over the mountains. It could come back around and finish of this place as well." Hadvar explained as he gestured to the small village. "Somebody needs to go to Whiterun and request aid."

"We'll do it." Blake said as he folded his arms over his chest. Layla looked at him with her mouth wide open. "But we need somebody to look after Haming while we go. If we run into bandits along the way, they'll probably use him as a human shield." Blake explained.

Ralof nodded at his explanation. "I see. Well he can stay with my sister Gerdur. She'll gladly look after him. If you need supplies, go to the Riverwood Trader. They'll get you some stuff that you may need for your journey." Ralof said as he motioned for Haming to follow him. Haming followed Ralof as he led the young boy up the road.

Hadvar watched them go and sighed before turning to the two survivors of Helgen. "I'm sorry you both were captured. Both of you were grouped up with the Stormcloaks for no reason. Well… Layla wasn't but Blake… You killed a bunch of Thalmor soldiers. I can understand if they did something to upset you…" He was cut off by Blake.

"Those assholes have repeatedly tried to kick me off the mountains where I live. They claim that the land belongs to the Thalmor. Those idiots don't realize who those mountain's really belong to." Blake said with a growl.

"If that's the case, you have done nothing wrong. You were defending your home and Layla was just a traveler." He sighed and threw a coin purse at Layla. "Here. You both deserve some kind of compensation for your troubles. If you ever need anything. Look me up in Solitude. First round of drinks are on me." He said before walking down the road to the tavern.

They both watched him walked down the road. Layla turned to Blake and saw his eyes looking straight ahead. "Why did you accept? I thought you would have left once we got somewhere safe." She asked with confusion at his change in attitude.

"Things change. Besides, wasn't it you who told me that I shouldn't leave a beautiful girl like you on her own?" He asked with a smirk as he walked down the road towards the Riverwood Trader. He left Layla sitting there with a massive blush on her face, trying to process what he just said.

She jumped up and ran after him still with a blush on her face, "Get back here you jerk!" She cried as she ran after him.

They entered the Riverwood Trader together. Layla was still muttering about how Blake was a massive jerk while said man had a small smirk on his face. As they walked in, they saw a female imperial wearing a yellow dress arguing with an imperial male who seemed to be very upset at the woman.

"Well one of us has to do something!" The woman yelled at the man as she placed her hands on her hips

"I said no! No adventures, no theatrics, no thief-chasing!" The man replied with an annoyed tone

"Well what are you going to do then, huh? Let's hear it!" She said as she folds her arms over her chest and raises an eyebrow.

"We are done talking about this!" He looks over at Layla and Blake who were still standing in the doorway watching. "Oh… uhm... a customer." He says as the woman huffs and sits down at the table across from the counter the man was leaning on. "Sorry you had to hear that. What can I do for you?"

Layla walked up to the counter with Blake going to the side to look at the equipment. "I was wondering if you could provide us with some supplies? We're journeying to Whiterun in a bit and could use a few things." She said as she looked around the store. She readjusted the Imperial bow strung across her back. The same one that Blake had given to her the same morning. She said she was pretty good with a bow since she used to hunt all the time with her family.

Her eyes fell on an elven bow that Blake had just picked up. The woman from earlier seemed to be trying to persuade Blake into buying the bow by pushing her bust into his arm. For some reason, Layla had the urge to go over there and push the woman away. To her surprise, Blake didn't even seem to react to this. Instead he threw the bow to Layla who fumbled with it for a few seconds. The shopkeeper seemed surprised that Blake's face had remained impassive throughout the whole thing. "The name's Lucan Valerius. The woman over there is my sister, Camilla Valerius. I'd be happy to help you out." He said as his sister sat back down in her chair and watched Blake as he walked over to the counter. "So what kind of supplies are you looking for?"

"Food, arrows, lockpicks, the bow my friend is holding, and two bags to carry it all in.." Blake said as Lucan got what they needed. Layla traded in her Imperial bow and slung the Elven bow over her back.

"There you are. Anything else you may need?" Lucan asked.

"Uhm… Can you tell us about that argument you had earlier?" Layla asked as she filled her new quiver with iron and steel arrows.

Lucan sighed. "You heard that didn't you? Well recently we had a break in and the thieves stole a gold ornamental claw from the shop. Strange enough they only took the claw and nothing else." Lucan explained. "You two don't have to get wrapped up in this. We'll find a way to get the claw back."

"Where did they take the claw?" Blake asked.

"Bleak Falls Barrow. The old nordic ruins up the mountain. I chased the bandits up there but then they started firing arrows at me." Lucan said as came out from behind the counter to show them the blood stained bandage wrapped around his right leg. "I don't want to send anybody to their deaths. Those bandits are dangerous."

"I can show them where it is!" Camilla exclaimed as she jumped from her seat.

"Absolutely not! I will not have my sister come back on her own!" Lucan argued.

"She could accompany us to the bridge." Layla suggested making Camilla smirk as her brother sighed in defeat.

"Fine but only to the bridge and no farther!" He said with frustration.

Layla and Blake payed for their things and left with Camilla. As they walked down the street, Camilla was talking Blake's ear off. Layla could see that he was beginning to get annoyed by the twitching in his eye as they walked. "So where are these ruins?" Layla asked to save Blake's ear from further torture.

Camilla pouted as they reached the bridge. She pointed up the mountain where some Ancient ruins could be seen among the snow. "Its up there. Just follow the path up the mountain and you'll eventually come to the entrance." She said as she began walking back to the shop. "When you get back I'll be glad to show you a thing or two." She said suggestively as she winked at Blake.

"Oh? Looks like someone has an admirer." She teased Blake who grumbled something about how he wished murder wasn't illegal. She giggled as she tried to fight down the same feeling that she felt earlier in the shop. ' _Why am I getting so angry over something so trivial? I don't like him in that way but seeing how the woman just flirted with him like just makes me… UGH!'_ She thought as the two made their way up the mountain.

They encountered a pack of wolves on their way up. Layla fired arrows into a few of them while Blake stabbed each wolf with his sword. When the pack was dead, they skinned the wolves and stored them away to sell later on. They continued up the path that led to the Nordic ruins only to find the entrance swarming with bandits.

 **Translations**

" **Zu'u lost daal wah du hin sil!": "I have returned to devour your souls!"**

" **Duziir mun! Zu'u fen du hin sil!": "Insolent man! I will devour your soul!"**

" **Yol... Toor... Shul!": "Fire... Inferno... Sun!"**


	2. Chapter 2

Blake and Layla hid behind a fallen pillar as they watched some of the bandits sit around fires drinking mead and getting drink. There were a few more serious bandits actually watching out for any threats that could prove a challenge or adventurers looking for wealth in the ruins. Blake counted around twenty bandits up there. The drunk ones would be easy to bring down but he was more concerned about the ones that weren't drunk. There were a total of ten bandits who were not drunk, most of whom had a serious look in their eyes. About five of them were armed with steel swords and steel shields while another four were positioned up high with orcish bows and arrows. Those nine guards were wearing leather gear that looked quite new but they were lacking in headgear.

There was one guard that made Blake most nervous of all of them. It was a woman who radiated magical power. She was blasting a stone pillar with what looked like a chain lightning spell in one hand and a massive fireball spell in the other. She wore a mage's robe that looked to be heavily enchanted based on the intensity of her destruction spells and how, even from his spot a good distance away, he could still see the robes glowing faintly.

"How good of a shot are you?" Blake whispered to Layla who was eyeing the archers walking above with a critical eye.

"I can shoot a hawk out of the sky from a good distance without it even knowing it was dead." Layla whispered back. "I can take out the archers silently but…"

"You're still scared of killing them." Blake finished for her. "There's a trick I know. Think about something important to you and imagine it being taken away by the people you're about to kill. Do that and you'll only have to worry about your kills later on." Blake placed a dagger in her hands that looked to be of dwarven make. "In case you need to fight in close quarters. I'm going to try taking them out stealthily. Cover me." He climbed over the fallen pillar and used the now falling snow to mask his presence.

Layla took a deep breath and knocked an arrow in her bow. ' _Ok Layla… You can do this… Think about something important to you.'_ She thought to herself and the image of Blake and his smirk from earlier played in her mind. She fought down the blush that was appearing on her cheeks before taking aim at the lone archer above where Blake was hiding behind a pillar. ' _Deep breaths… And fire.'_ She thought and let fly an arrow. The arrow hit its mark deep in the bandit's throat. The archer fell over the side of the catwalk only to be caught by Blake before they reached the ground. Blake hid the body behind the pillar so that nobody would find it. Layla took a deep breath and drew another arrow from her quiver and did the same thing with the other three archers.

Blake watched as Layla made quick work of the archers while he worked on trying to take out some of the other bandits. He was able to take out three of the guards before a ball of fire came straight at him. He quickly rolled out of the way and came face to face with the mage from earlier. She was quite beautiful if he was being honest. A curvaceous figure behind the mage's robes she wore. Chestnut colored hair tied into a braid that hung over her left shoulder, plump red lips, and dark blue colored eyes.

"Tsk Tsk Tsk… You're killing my men. I can't have that now can I? I must admit… My men are elite compared to the trash that Arvel had brought with him." She said as she gestured towards the still drunk bandits behind her swaying with their weapons. "Though he did promise us quite the reward when he came back with the treasure of Bleak Falls Barrow. Now I must know the name of the man who killed my men. You must be very skilled to do so. Your little friend down by the pillar who took out my men is a very excellent shot."

"Blake Darkstride." Blake said as he placed his hand on his sword, drawing it slightly as he readied for an attack.

The woman eyed the sword with a curious expression. "That looks like no Akaviri katana I have ever encountered. But your stance tells me that you're very skilled with it. That stance is a quickdraw stance that not many know how to pull off." She said and with a flick of her wrist, sent a massive fireball at Blake. Blake drew his sword and cut the fireball clean in half with a single motion before sheathing it. "Oh? Now that's an interesting trick. I have never seen a sword that can do that to a fireball."

"How about we stop playing games? Tell me your name or get out of my way before I kill you." Blake said as he readied his sword again.

"I am Diane Gene. I'm afraid we won't be leaving until we get the reward we were promised." Diane said as two of her men brought forth a lightly bruised Layla. "But you killed my men. Blood for blood after all." She said as she drew a dagger and put it to Layla's throat. Layla had tears in her eyes as the knife pressed against her throat. "I'm sorry I have to do this dear… I hate having to kill a pretty face like yours." Diane said as she made to slit Layla's throat but was stopped when a hand grabbed the wrist holding the knife.

Most of the bandits jumped back pointing their weapons at Blake who was standing beside Diane, his hand gripping her wrist tightly. "You harm a single hair on her head… I will kill you." Blake said in a cold, murderous tone as his bangs shadowed his eyes. Diane was surprised by the speed at which he moved. She was even more surprised at the black markings spreading across his arm producing black wisps of smoke. They looked to be some sort of symbols that belonged to no language she had ever seen. She looked into Blake's eyes and gasped when they were no longer crimson colored. His eyes were a dark evil looking purple that glowed with anger.

Diane dropped the dagger and fell to her knee at the intense power she felt coming from him. She watched as the bandits charged at him. Diane watched as how each bandit was cleaved right in half. She never even saw Blake draw his sword as each bandit fell. Layla watched as well but she was more disturbed by her companion's lack of restraint as he killed each bandit without remorse.

Soon enough, the steps leading up to the entrance were covered in blood and bodies. Blake turned around, his eyes set on Diane who was to paralyzed with fear to even move. Blake walked over to her, blade slowly leaving the sheath. Diane shut her eyes and waited for the final blow to come but it never did. She reopened her eyes to see Layla hugging Blake's chest.

"Blake stop it! You've already killed enough! This isn't you! In the brief time I've known you… I know that you don't kill without reason! Please… No more killing… For me." She said as she hugged him tighter. The symbols running across Blake's arm faded away and his eyes returned back to their normal red. Blake's sword was resheathed and he reluctantly hugged Layla back who hadn't let go of him.

"I'm sorry Layla… My emotions got to me…"He said as he then looked up at Diane who still sat there with fear in her eyes. "Go… Before I end your life as well." He said still not letting go of Layla. Diane nodded quickly and scurried off down the mountain.

"Blake…" Layla murmured into Blake's chest.

Blake looked down at her and sighed. "I have some explaining to do don't I?" He only got was a small nod into his chest. Layla reluctantly let go of Blake and the two started collecting anything useful from the dead bodies of the bandits. They both stayed silent as they searched. The silence lasted until they entered the ruins and took care of the two bandits who were laying in bedrolls asleep. Blake sat down on the ground poking the fire with a stick. Layla sat across from Blake, her eyes never leaving his face.

A few minutes went by as they both simply sat there. Blake finally broke the silence. "It's a curse, or a blessing, whichever way you see it." Blake said as he started into the fire.

"Blake… You don't…" Layla started off but she was cut off by Blake.

"You have the right to know. I hid this from you because I was afraid of how you'd react." Blake said as his eyes looked into hers. "I told you before that people feared me because of my eyes and name. That was only the partial truth. The Darkstrides used to be a clan of powerful warriors. Capable of wielding magic and powers that no normal man could ever hope to gain. With these abilities came… a gift if you could call it that." He said as he looked at his arm. "This gift came in the form of people being able to turn into monsters. Not like Daedra or the undead. True monsters that parents tell their kids about in stories to get them to behave."

Layla watched as Blake gripped the stick so hard it snapped in two but didn't say anything which signalled him to continue. "The clan came around four-hundred years ago when the founder of the family, Nathaniel Darkstride, made a deal with Clavicus Vile, the Daedric Prince of trickery and wishes. He wished for the ability to control and manipulate the darkness throughout the land so that he could crush his enemies. Clavicus Vile granted this wish but there were strings attached. The power that he wielded corrupted his body and mind. It turned him into a monster. This happened after he had started the clan and took many wives to spread his 'gift' to his children which he also asked Clavicus to allow. His children had to put him down but they were subjected to the same fate. However, over the years my family has found a way to keep our inner beasts in check. When we reach a certain age, we must fight our inner demon and subdue it. Then we can either choose to keep them subdued inside of us forever, or use it to our advantage." Blake said as he stared into the fire once more.

"But then what happened out there? You have control over your ability right?" Layla asked as she gestured towards the doors leading outside.

Blake sighed. "I subdued mine when I was eleven. What happened out there was because I let my anger get the best of me. I never use it because I do not want the Darkstride name to be remembered as something to fear but rather respect."

"What do you mean? Why are you talking like your clan is gone?" Layla asked confused as to why he was talking like that.

"Because my entire clan except for myself is gone." Blake said as he looked at her with sadness. Layla stared at him in shock. "I said when we reach a certain age our inner demon must be subdued correct?" Layla nodded dumbly. "For some reason… Mine was unleashed when I had turned six years old. Nobody had been prepared for it. Even the elders were caught off guard. Nothing like this had ever happened. What caught them even more off guard, was the sheer power that I possessed that no one had possessed since Nathaniel Darkstride himself." Blake said sadly.

"You mean you… I mean you're inner demon…" She said trying to find the right words.

"Killed them all." Blake finished for Layla as teared poured from his eyes. "I killed them all. Men, women, children, and elderly alike." More tears were spilling down his cheeks now. "I'm a goddamn monster. Every day I have to live with the regret and the fear that I will do it again." Blake's emotional walls were coming down now as he let it all out.

Layla moved towards him and wrapped her arms around him, pushing his head into her generous bust. "You are not a monster. It wasn't your fault. You were only six when it unleashed. You couldn't hope to control it." She said as she rubbed the back of his as he cried. She would be lying if she said she wasn't afraid but to her, this man was dealt an unfortunate hand in life and she could fault him for that. "You are still Blake Darkstride. The man who saved me numerous times at Helgen and distracted a dragon so people could escape." She said as she kissed his forehead.

They stayed like that for a good amount of time. Blake letting his emotions out while Layla held him close. Eventually they separated once they realized what kind of position they were in. Both of them had healthy blushes on their faces. Blake was the first one to recover. "Thanks… It felt good to confide in someone about that." Blake stood up as he offered Layla his hand making her smile as she gladly took it. "Now let's go get that stupid claw and get out of here." He said as he pulled Layla to her feet, the awkwardness no longer hanging around them.

"Bjorn? Soling? You guys better not be fucking again. The boss has been taking awhile so we should probably go down and check on him." An Orc said as he walked up the slope that led deeper into the ruins. When he got to the top he saw Blake and Layla standing there. "Ah fuck…" He said before an arrow pierced his head making him fall down the slope.

Blake smirked at Layla who grinned at Blake as they started heading further into the depths of the ruins. They killed a few skeevers on their way down before reaching a Nordic puzzle which Layla was easily able to figure out by matching the symbols on the ceiling to three spinning totems on the floor near a lever. They proceeded downwards into more ruins fighting off more skeevers as they did so.

They finally came upon a large room covered in spider webs making Layla shiver in fear as she saw a giant spider drop down into the room with them. "BACK ME UP!" Blake yelled as he ran at the spider, dodging some of its poison it decided to spit out at him. Layla fired one of her arrows into the spider's eye causing it to let out a shriek. It swung its legs at Blake who dodged each one of the hair appendages. Layla shot another arrow into another eye of the spider causing it to cover its face giving Blake the chance to slide underneath it and cut open its abdomen. The spider let out a final screech as its guts spilled out of its body. It collapsed onto the ground, dead.

"Oh thank the gods that you came!" A man tied up in spider webs said from his position. "Wait you're not my men! What did you do with them?!"

"I'm assuming you're Arvel?" Blake asked as he cleaned his sword on Arvel's pants causing the man to curse at Blake. Layla giggled at Blake's antics. "I'm cutting you down. Run and my partner shoots you in the back of the head. Try to fight back, I do to you what I did to the spider." Blake said getting Arvel to shut up and nod his head furiously. Blake cut the man down and looked down as the man prayed to the gods for being saved.

"We'll let you go if you give us the claw. We need to return it to the rightful owner." Layla said as she looked down at the man.

"No! You just want the treasure for yourselves!" He said taking down the path that was behind the spider webs.

Blake and Layla chased after him, the former muttering about how someone so scrawny was so fast. They heard Arvel screaming loudly. They reached the end of the corridor and found Arvel's lifeless bodied impaled on the end of an old looking great sword belonging to a draugr. An undead corpse that protected the ancient Nord ruins of skyrim. It spotted the two companions and threw Arvel's corpse off its blade. "Aav Dilon!" It cried in a raspy voice as it pointed its sword at them.

"Fuck." Blake said as more draugr began to rise from the shelves in the wall. "Double fuck!" Blake yelled as he readied his sword while Layla readied an arrow.

The dead rushed at them with ancient nord weapons that were effective back in their day but were no longer as useful against Layla's bow and Blake's sword. A few minutes passed and the battle between the living and the dead was over with the living prevailing over the dead. Blake and Layla stood tired from the amount of undead that they had faced. At some point in time, one of the draugr had reanimated Arvel's body to fight because all that was left of him was a pile of ash, clothes, a dagger, and a golden claw which Blake picked up and showed to Layla.

"All this trouble for a little thing like this?" Layla asked as she took the claw from Blake and examined it. On the bottom of the claw there the images of a bear, a moth, and an owl. Layla looked up at blake who had a small smirk on his face. "What?"

"Arvel mentioned a treasure. You want to keep going and see what we can find?" Layla felt herself beginning to grin at Blake's idea.

She nodded and the two of them went further into the ruins. They still had to deal with a few draugr and a couple of skeevers but now that they had taken care of a lot of them in the main room, it was much easier to descend. Soon enough they came to a hallway filled with designs carved into the walls. At the end of the hallway was a giant door that had three rings depicting different animals and in the center was some kind of lock pattern on it.

"Fifty gold coins says that the images on the bottom of the claw are what those ring are supposed to be and that the claw fits in that keyhole." Layla said with a smirk to which Blake simply shrugged. Layla turned the rings on the door to match the claw and inserted the claw in the keyhole. The door shook and started to lover as Layla pulled the claw out of the keyhole and stepped back.

The door sank into the ground revealing a massive cavern with a river to the side and a wall with a strange language on it. A coffin sat across from the wall with a massive chest next to it. Layla held out her hand to Blake who grunted and dropped a coin purse with fifty gold coins inside into Layla's hand. Layla smiled and started counting the coin as they walked towards the end of the cavern. They climbed the steps to the small platform that the coffin and strange wall sat on. Blake went straight for the chest while Layla, as if by some invisible force, walked towards the wall with the unknown language.

Layla looked up from the coin purse and stared at the wall for a second before her eyes settled on a symbol that seemed to be glowing for her. She instantly fell to her knees with a sharp pain in her head and the words ' _Fus'_ and ' _Force'_ echoing in her head over and over again. She let out a cry and instantly Blake was kneeling by her side with a hand on her shoulder.

"Layla! Layla! What's wrong!?" He asked her as he squeezed her shoulder.

The pain faded from her head and she looked up at Blake who had a concerned look on his face. "I-I'm fine… I just…" She was cut off when the lid to the coffin burst off and a draugr wearing a helmet with long horns on top and an ebony war axe strapped to its side.

The draugr looked at the two of them before drawing its axe. "Bolog Aaz, Mal Lir!"

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Blake said before the draugr looked at him and took a deep breath.

"FUS RO DAH!" The draugr yelled and an invisible force sent Blake flying back into the wall that had the unknown language.

"BLAKE!" Layla yelled concerned. She didn't know what kind of spell that the draugr had used, but it had been powerful enough to send Blake flying backwards. A shadow fell over her and she looked behind with fear in her eyes as the draugr stood over her with its axe raised to strike her.

"SOVNGARDE SARRAN!" The draugr cried as it brought its axe down.

Layla barely dodged the axe as it came down. She rolled away from the undead warrior and pulled the dwarven dagger from her high and held it in her right hand in a reverse grip. Her flame spell ignited in her left hand and she blasted the draugr with fire. It charged at her unaffected by the fire spell she was using. Layla cursed as she was forced to dodge another swing from the axe. She stabbed the draugr in the chest but all that seemed to do was make it angry. It backhanded her which sent her crashing against the coffin it came from. She coughed up a bit of blood as her back smashed into the coffin. She looked up weakly to see the draugr standing over her yet again with its axe raised to strike.

"DIR VOLAAN!" It cried as it brought its axe down again. Layla closed her eyes knowing that this was it. This is where she died. Before the axe could strike her, the draugr was blown back by a blast of lightning which caused Layla to open her eyes and look to see Diane standing there with lightning crackling in both her hands.

"COME AND GET ME YOU FILTHY UNDEAD CORPSE!" She cried and blasted the Draugr with lightning again.

The draugr charged her deciding to take out her out first before finishing off the other two. "FUS RO DAH!" It shouted but because of the distance, Diane wasn't thrown back like Blake had been, only knocked off her feet. The draugr charged at the downed woman but before it reach its target, a white blade was stabbed through its back and out its chest. The draugr twitched for a moment before going limp on the blade. Blake stood behind it holding the sword with blood running down his forehead and into his left eye.

"Fucking undead." Blake muttered as he pushed the draugr of his blade and sheathed it before running over to Layla and sitting her up. Meanwhile Diane cautiously approached, staying in view of Blake so she wouldn't have to face his wrath again. Blake wiped some of the blood off of Layla's mouth before making her drink a healing potion. Blake stood up and looked at Diane with a questioning look. "Why are you here?" His question didn't come out as harsh but instead confused.

"I… I owed the girl stopping you from killing me. If she hadn't I would be dead right now. Figured I owed her for saving my life. I'm no bandit. I was just hired by the fools to protect them while they worked. They promised I'd get a cut of the treasure once it was unsealed but…" Diane looked around at the cavern and then at the dead draugr. "I guess there's not much here to take. I would have thought that there would be piles of gold and gems to take."

"Well there's a chest filled with stuff. If you can take it out we can separate it evenly. You saved our lives so it's only fair that we split it evenly." Blake said as he slowly moved Layla over to the stairs and sat her there while the healing potion did its work. "Please don't run off with it all. I want to actually get the poor girl some decent gear to where so she doesn't have to keep wearing that crappy leather armor.

Diane nodded as Blake walked towards the draugr that blasted him into the wall. He wrenched the war axe out of its hand and gave a few good test swings with it before looting the corpse a bit more. He found some gold and a stone tablet that looked to be a map of… something. He couldn't figure it out but decided to take it anyway. He came back over to see Layla helping Diane sort through all the gear that was in the chest and chatting with her like she was an old friend. On the floor between them was a bunch of stuff. There was a large purse filled with gold that Blake estimated to be between four hundred and five hundred gold pieces. There was lightning staff on the ground by Diane, a glass bow that looked enchanted with some sort of enchantment, a few necklaces that would probably fetch a fair price, an ebony dagger which Layla had claimed for herself, and some precious gems in between. Blake threw the war axe onto the pile of stuff and sat next to Layla with the tablet leaning against his leg.

"So we were sifting through the chest and started dividing up the items we found." Layla said with an excited grin. "I hope you don't mind that we took some of the good stuff already."

Blake shrugged, "It's not like there's really anything in this pile that would suit me other than a necklace that I can enchant for later. You guys can negotiate the equipment but we share the gold and gems evenly." The two women nodded and started talking about who got what leaving Blake to stare at the stone tablet in his hands. He was trying to figure out what the damn thing was depicting but he was having no luck.

"Whatcha find?" Layla said as she leaned over and looked at the tablet Blake was holding. "Oh. Looks boring." Layla said as she snatched the tablet of Blake's hands, flipping the tablet over. On the back was the same symbols that were on the wall. Layla didn't get the same headache as she did the previous time but the symbols almost seemed… Familiar to her.

Blake snatched the tablet back from Layla. "May be worth something to the right people. Maybe there's somebody out there that is into… Whatever the hell this is." Blake said as he placed it inside his backpack. He grabbed an emerald necklace from the pile and walked up the stairs. "I'm going to look for a way out. Hurry up and finish sorting that gear." Blake disappeared down a path that was connected to the stairs.

Layla stared at the spot where Blake had disappeared before Diane's hand waved in front of her face. "Snap out of it. You can gaze at your boyfriend later."

Layla's face turned bright red. "He's not my boyfriend!" She cried in embarrassment.

"Yeah sure. Keep telling yourself that. Might want to hurry and claim him yourself. Some girl will probably catch his eye." She said with a smirk as she watched Layla's eye twitch dangerously. "Well whatever. Let's go before that gets in more trouble." She said as she grabbed her share of the loot and walked up the stairs, leaving Layla to quickly grab what she had and run after her.

 **Outside Bleak Falls Barrow**

"OH GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!" Layla yelled as she looked across the land and saw the ruins of Helgen still somewhat smoking. "WHY COULDN'T WE COME OUT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GODDAMN MOUNTAIN!?" She threw her hands up in defeat as she sat on the edge of the rock with the most pissed off look on her face.

A hand patted the top of her head. Layla looked up to see Blake looking off towards the side. "Relax. This actually works in our favor. We can return the claw to Lucan and get a reward for retrieving it. Then we can go to Whiterun." Blake said as he watched Diane approach them.

"Then this is where I take my leave then. My days of being a mercenary are over. I think I'll become a teacher at the College of Winterhold. Live a peaceful life." Diane said as she started climbing down the cliff they were on. "Safe travels you two and Layla… Take my advice." She watched Layla blush slightly which went unnoticed by Blake.

They both watched her walk down the road as the sun began to slowly set. "C'mon. Let's go. We have a lot of ground to cover. We'll have to travel all night to get to Whiterun." Blake said as he picked up Layla bridal style and jumped down the cliffs. Blake set her down and they restarted their journey to Whiterun.

Unknown to them, red eyes belonging to multiple figures crouched on a hill close to the exit to Bleak Falls Barrow, were watching the duo travel along the beaten path. They all disappeared as if they were never there and left no trace whatsoever.

 **For those of you who think that Blake is a bit overpowered or his origin is stupid, you have to remember that this story is called 'Skyrim: The Awakening of Beasts' for a reason. Blake is not overpowered because he can still be killed by normal means. It's just very hard to do so because of his skills. If you don't like it. Don't read.**

 **Translations:**

" **Aav Dilon!": "Join the Dead!"**

" **Bolog Aaz, Mal Lir!": "Beg for Mercy, Little Worm!"**

" **FUS RO DAH!": "FORCE BALANCE PUSH!"**

" **SOVNGARDE SARRAN!": "SOVNGARDE AWAITS!"**

" **DIR VOLAAN!": "DIE INTRUDER!"**


	3. Chapter 3

Layla tossed the bag of coin in her hand up and down as she and Blake walked down the beaten path towards Whiterun. Both moons hung in the air over them as they walked. They had returned to Riverwood trader just as it was closing for the night. Luncan had kept the place open just a bit longer for them since they had been able to bring back his Golden Claw. He gave them six hundred gold coins for their troubles and allowed them to sell the gear that they found in the ruins for pretty good prices. Well, Layla did anyway. Blake had been trying to avoid the kisses that Camilla was trying to plant on Blake's cheek. She had been able to get on his cheek while he was paying attention to Lucan. Layla had to fight the urge to shoot Camilla in the head as Diane's words played in her head over and over again.

They got around fourteen hundred gold pieces for the equipment they sold to Lucan plus what he had given them for the claw they retrieved. They kept the precious stones with them for emergencies and split the profits so that each had a thousand gold pieces. She hummed happily as she walked, Blake watching her from the corner of his eye. She noticed that he had been doing that a lot recently. They reached the gates of Whiterun only to be stopped by one of the guards by the gate.

"Halt. The city is closed on account of the dragon attack. I'm afraid you're going to have to turn back and go back to wherever you came from." The guard said.

Layla heard Blake snort in amusement. "Funny. We just came from Helgen and that is where the dragon attacked." Blake said and crossed his arms over his chest.

The guard looked between them frantically. "I-I-I had no idea there were survivors. We just saw the plumes of smoke coming from Helgen and then the dragon that went flying over the mountains. The Jarl will want to speak to you but it'll have to wait till morning. He hates being woken up. The Bannered Mare will have rooms for you to rent. I'll have one of the guards inform the Jarl in the morning." The guard said as he unlocked the gate for Blake and Layla.

They were both ushered through and walked down the quiet streets of Whiterun. They reached the steps leading up to the tower when the door burst opened and a woman with brown hair stormed out of the tavern followed by a young bard chasing after her. "Come now Carlotta! You can't deny the love we have for each other forever!" He cried as she stormed away.

"I keep telling you to leave me alone, Mikael!" The woman known as Carlotta yelled causing Mikael to grow angry.

"You have denied be long enough!" He yelled and attempted to grab her shoulder when a hand gripped his wrist. Blake stood there with a calm expression but his eyes showed that he was annoyed. "What do you want? Can't you see this is a private matter?" Mikael attempted to pull his arm out of Blake's grip but failed. "A real man needs to tame a beast and the beast I'm trying to tame is this woman here." Mikael growled.

By now, everyone in the tavern was looking out the door and watching the argument go on. Blake finally lost his nerve when he attempted to push Layla out of the way, who was standing in front of the woman. Blake effortlessly snapped the bard's arm causing him to scream out in pain before Blake threw him into the wall of the Bannered Mare.

Mikael sat against the wall cradling his broken arm as tears spilled down his face. Blake kneeled down in front of the man with a scowl. He grabbed the front of the bard's shirt and brought his face close to his, "A woman is not some beast you 'conquer'. A woman is a person who deserves respect, deserves love, and deserves the attention that she is supposed to have. You leave this woman alone or I will make that broken arm of yours a joke compared to what I do next." Blake said as let go of the man's shirt as a guard walked up with his hand on his sword.

"Is there trouble here?" The guard asked nervously as he gazed into the red eyes of Blake.

"No everything is fine. He actually kept the bard that was harassing me from doing anything else." Carlotta said as she stepped towards the guard.

The guard looked at her for a few seconds before looking back at Blake who was glaring at the whimpering Mikael. "Alright fine. I'll let this go just once but I will be keeping my eye on you." He said as he looked at Blake. Before returning to his patrols.

Layla stepped up to Blake with a neutral expression before reeling back and punching Blake in the face with all her might not that it did much to affect him. "YOU IDIOT!" She screamed as Carlotta went back inside and Mikael slinked off somewhere to lick his wounds. "What possessed you to break his arm?!"

"You heard what he said. Skyrim has enough assholes already. I did this place a favor by teaching one a lesson." Blake shrugged nonchalantly before walking inside.

Layla stood out there thinking about what Blake had said. ' _He sounded so… Gentleman like despite the violence he showed. Did he really mean what he said?'_ She walked into the tavern and immediately ducked as a chair smashed into the wall behind her. She saw a woman dressed in steel plated armor fighting a man much bigger than her, wearing an iron helmet and iron armor. Layla spotted Blake talking to a woman at the counter. She looked slightly aged and tired but otherwise in good health.

"Sorry. I've only got one room left and it's only a single bed. Not much else I can do." The woman said causing Blake to sigh.

"Fine. I'll take it." He said as he passed some gold to the woman and turned around to see Layla standing there with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"We have to share a room?" Layla asked causing Blake to sigh.

"If it makes you feel more comfortable, I'll sleep outside the room door." Blake said causing Layla to frown.

"No." Layla simply said as she grabbed Blake's hand and dragged him up the stairs towards their room. "I'm not letting you sleep somewhere uncomfortable." Layla blushed slightly as she realized what she was doing. ' _Too late to change my mind. I'll just have to deal with it.'_

Blake was confused about why his companion was acting so strange. ' _Is she sick? Was there something in those ruins that affected her?'_ He thought as he tried to analyze the situation.

Layla dragged Blake into the room and they both stood in the center, an awkwardness hanging between them. It lingered like that for a few moments until Blake turned his back causing Layla to frown and become confused. "What are you doing?" She asked uncertain.

"Uh… Letting you get ready? I'm not going to stare at you and watch you change like some kind of pervert." Blake replied as he kept his back to Layla. "Now hurry up. I'm tired and I want to get some sleep."

Layla quickly got changed into a pair of black long pants and a loose shirt. She then tossed her somewhat torn leather gear to the side. "Ok you can turn around now." She said as she noted that at some point while she had been changing, Blake had taken off his vest and tossed it to the side. She gasped at the countless scars that seemed to cover his body.

As Blake was about to turn around, he felt a slender pair of arms wrap around his waist from behind and a forehead pressed to his back. "Layla?" He asked but the only answer he received were the tears running down Layla's cheeks and rolling onto his back. "Layla…" He turned around and wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back.

"I don't know why… But I hate seeing all those scars across your body. It pains me to think of all the times you were hurt." She sobbed causing Blake to hug her tighter.

"Don't worry about the scars. They helped me to find who I am and what I was meant to do." He said with a smile. "Now come on. Let's get some sleep. We have a meeting with the Jarl in the morning." They both lay in the bed as the awkwardness was once again gone. During the night, Layla had wrapped her arms around Blake's waist and rested her head on his chest. Blake's arm had snaked its way around Layla's slender waist.

 **Scene Break**

Layla and Blake stood inside Dragonsreach, the place where the Jarl of Whiterun resided, at the entrance awaiting their meeting with the Jarl. They had awoken to find themselves holding onto each other. Layla blamed him of trying to seduce her with his large muscles around her. Blake had denied this and claimed that she was the one who was clinging to him in the first place. In the end, they both decided not to mention this to anyone ever.

Blake was leaning against one of the pillars yawning into his hand as he waited for someone to come and get them. He just wanted to get this done and over with so he could get a drink and relax. Maybe go to the forge he saw earlier and see if he would be allowed to use it. He glanced over at Layla who was staring at her reflection in the Dwarven Dagger he had given her, trying to fix her hair for a meeting with the Jarl. Blake sighed. ' _She needs to calm down. She getting too stressed for something like this.'_ Blake closed his eyes for a few moments, only opening them when an old woman approached them.

"Jarl Balgruuf will meet with you now." The old woman said before leaving them to attend to her other duties. Blake and Layla made their way up the stairs towards the throne where a man with blonde hair wearing nobles clothing, was sitting there thinking.

"My lord. The two people who wished to meet with you are here." A balding man to the Jarl's right said causing the Jarl to look up at the two approaching people.

"Ah. Thank you Proventus." Balgruuf said as he turned his gaze to Blake and Layla. "My guard has already told me why you're here. You're survivors from Helgen. My guards spotted the smoke and the dragon from their vantage points. I was unsure if anybody had actually escaped the destruction but now I know at least some people were able to survive."

Blake stepped forward and bowed to the Jarl. "Jarl Balgruuf, Riverwood is in need of soldiers in case that dragon decides to come back and turn Riverwood into ash." Blake said as he stood up straight.

Balgruuf consider this for a minute before looking at his housecarl, a dark elf named Irileth, "Send a detachment to Riverwood. They are to defend the town and evacuate the inhabitants if need be." Balgruuf said as Irileth left to get some guards ready to move out. "I thank you both but I know neither of your names."

Blake nudged Layla forward causing her to glare at Blake which made him smirk. She turned back to the Jarl. "I am Layla Embers. It is a pleasure to meet you Jarl Balgruuf." She said as she did a quick bow.

"Now there's no need for all this formal stuff. I may be Jarl but I do not care as much for such things like the other Jarls do." He said with a chuckle and then looked at Blake. "And your name?"

"Blake Darkstride." Blake said, giving the Jarl a wave. "Pleasure to meet you."

"A Darkstride? Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. I had heard they were wiped out." He watched as Blake flinched and looked at the ground making him feel sorry for the man. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories. My condolences to your fallen family. May the divines grant them a peaceful afterlife." Balgruuf said with a sincerity in his voice.

"Thank you." Blake said with a nod. Balgruuf then looked to Layla who had a look of sadness on her face as she gazed at Blake.

"I would like you two to assist my court wizard. He's been looking into this dragon sighting with someone and he needs something retrieved." Balgruuf said as he stood up and led them to a room with a hooded Nord leaning over a bunch of documents. "This is Farengar. My court wizard."

Farengar looked up at Blake and Layla. "Are these people here to help me with my research?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "They look a cut above the normal mercenaries you send me my Jarl." Farengar said as he looked at Balgruuf.

"They survived Helgen. They have more experience with dragons than either of us." Balgruuf said as he waved his hand at the two. "I'll leave you three to discuss the details. I have some matters that require my attention." Balgruuf said as he walked back to the main hall to meet with more citizens.

Farengar turned to the two in front of him. "I need to to go to Bleak Falls Barrow to retrieve…" Farengar started but stopped when the stone tablet that Blake had picked up was thrown onto the table. He looked up at Blake who was trying so hard not to smirk.

"We were there yesterday to retrieve something for owner of Riverwood trader. We decided to keep going through the ruins to see what was down there." Layla explained making Farengar pick up the tablet and examine it.

"I see… Well thank you. I'll be able to continue my research into the dragons coming back." Farengar stated as he started examining the tablet.

"Farengar!" Irileth came running into the mage's workroom out of breath. "A dragon has been sighted at the western watchtower! Come quick!" Irileth turned to Blake and Layla. "You two come as well. We need every fighter we can get to bring the dragon down." She said before she left with Farengar in tow.

They both looked at each other. "It's going to be that kinda day isn't it?" Blake said with a deadpan expression.

Layla giggled and bolted out of the room leaving behind an annoyed Blake who ran after her. They came to a guard explaining the situation. "It was just circling around the tower. I ran back here as fast as I could to get word here. I don't know if the dragon is still there or not but…" He trailed off as Balgruuf put a hand on the man's shoulder.

"You did good son. Go get some rest. We'll take care of this problem." The soldier nodded and walked off. Balgruuf turned to the four people in front of him. "Take this dragon out before it comes here to Whiterun. We must kill it before it harms anybody."

"I want to come too. It would be great to…" He was cut off when Irileth shot him a glare.

"No. You stay here. You will just end up getting in the way." Irileth said as she turned to Blake and Layla. "I need you two with me. You know what a dragon is capable of. Now let's go!" She commanded.

Layla looked to Blake and noticed his facial expression was the exact same as when he was trying to distract the dragon at Helgen. She slipped her hand into his and gave it a light squeeze. "We can do it Blake. Don't worry." She said with a smile and followed Irileth who was commanding a few guards to follow her. Blake trailed behind them as he adjusted his armor straps. Layla stopped at the forge and picked up some more steel arrows for the fight. If she was going up against a dragon, she would need as many as she could get. Blake purchase eight steel daggers and strap four of them to his right leg and four to his left leg. "What are you planning to do with those?" Layla asked as she readied her arrows.

"You'll see." Blake said as they headed out with Irileth and five whiterun guards who all looked nervous. They ran along the path as quickly as they could. They saw a massive green dragon breathing fire at the tower. "Layla grab his attention!" Blake yelled.

Layla fired an arrow at the dragon and it hit the dragon's side. The dragon noticed the large group and focused its attention on them. "MOVE!" Layla yelled and pushed Irileth out of the way as the dragon let out a stream of fire which everybody was able to clear except for a guard who was too slow and burned in the fire.

Blake ran up to the tower and started climbing its spiral staircase to the top. Layla appeared behind him as they both watched the dragon circle around them, getting ready to attack again. "Got any ideas on how to bring it down?" Layla asked.

Blake's response was to pull out one of his steel daggers which confused Layla. She watched as a dark energy seemed to surround the dagger which covered the entire dagger as the seconds passed. Blake kept his eyes on the dragon and soon enough the dagger in his hand was no longer visible. He threw the dagger at the dragon's predicted path and the black energy that surrounded the dagger started to expand and take form until a spear of darkness took the place of the dagger. The strange magic pierced the dragon's wing causing the dragon to fall to the ground. The dragon crashed into the dirt, leaving behind a large trench in the ground. The spear of darkness dissipated and the dagger fell to the ground. "That is what I was doing." Blake said with a smirk as he jumped off the tower as the dragon struggled to get up.

Layla stood there shocked for a few seconds before she shook her head and started firing arrows at the dragon like the guards and Irileth were doing. Blake, however, had jumped onto the massive lizard's back and was stabbing his sword where vital organs may have been while also taking the daggers strapped to his legs and turning them into spears of dark energy

"Nid! Zu'u vis ni kos viik!" The dragon roared before slumping onto the ground, with blood pooling from its mouth and the various arrows and stab wounds in its back. Everybody gathered around the dead dragon to stare at the fact that they actually killed it. The spears of darkness remained in the dragon.

Layla approached the dead dragon and something in her just… Compelled her to touch the dragon. So Layla made her way past everybody gathered around the dragon and placed her hands on the dragon's snout. The Layla's body started glowing bright orange as the skin, scales, and organs began to burn away. Layla tilted her head back as blue, orange, and white lights began to surround her. Her hair was flowing from the power that was surrounding her.

"Everybody get back! Something's happening to the girl!" Irileth cried as all the soldiers began to fall back except for Blake who stood there mesmerized by Layla. To him she looked like a goddess in the light.

" _Vopraan Dovahkiin. Nii los nu hin heyv wah sav daar lein."_ Words echoed inside of Layla's head as her body absorbed whatever was coming off the dragon. The lights faded away as the dragon's body became clear of everything except for the bones underneath. Layla felt herself grow weak and began falling back only for a pair of strong arms to catch her and lay her gently on the ground.

Layla looked up to see a pair of crimson eyes filled with worry staring at her. She opened her mouth to say she was fine but instead of the intended words, she said something else. "Fus." She said weakly. A blue wall of energy slammed into Blake and sent him flying back slightly. Blake landed on his back

All the Whiterun guards and Irileth looked between Blake and Layla, all with a look of either shock or awe.

Blake sat up dazed and confused on what had just happened as he stared at Layla who was staring just as confused. "What… The… Fuck?" Blake asked to no one. Blake fully got up and went over to help Layla sit up so he could check her for any injuries.

Meanwhile, one of the Whiterun guards ran over to both of them. "You're Dragonborn!" The guard shouted with excitement in his voice. "You did what the stories of the Dragonborn could do! You absorbed the dragon's soul and used a shout!" Layla stared blankly at the man as he kept on questioning her.

"Enough!" Irileth snapped at the guard who instantly stopped talking. "We killed a dragon. That's enough for me." She looked at the two sitting on the ground. "We can talk about what you both did later on. For now you need to tell Balgruuf what happened here." Irileth walked off shouting out orders to her men to get the place fixed up.

Blake looked at Layla who was looking at her hands. "Layla? You ok?"

"Mirmulnir…"Layla muttered as she clenched her fingers. "His name was Mirmulnir…"She said as she looked up at Blake with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"How do you…"

Layla silenced him with a bone crushing hug. "A-Am I really the Dragonborn like they say?"

"I know someone who can help us out… She'll know if you are or aren't." He said as he helped her stand up.

"Who could possibly know if I'm the Dragonborn or not?" Layla narrowed her eyes at Blake as they began walking back to Whiterun.

"My mother who raised me since I was six years old." Blake said as he stared at the road ahead. "And she will not be happy with me when we get there."

 **Scene Break**

After getting back to Whiterun and feeling the entire town rumble as the Greybeards, that was who Jarl Balgruuf said caused the rumbling, were calling for the 'Dragonborn' to come to High Hrothgar, a temple located at the Throat of the World. After that had been explained, Jarl Balgruuf had named Layla Thane of Whiterun. He had offered Blake the same title but Blake declined saying that being the last Darkstride meant that he had other duties. Afterwhich they met Lydia, who was Layla's housecarl like Irileth was to Balgruuf. Lydia would be accompanying them in their travels.

They were currently walking along the road that led to Riverwood. Lydia and Layla were chatting away happily while Blake led the way. Lydia wore steel armor with a steel sword attached to her hip and a steel shield strapped to her back. Layla wore a new set of leather armor that was enchanted with fire and frost resistance. The fire enchantment was in case dragons decided to attack them. The frost was for where they were going. They had to travel Southeast of Helgen to reach the Darkstride land where Blake's mother lived. Blake had opted for a dark grey cloak to wear over his shoulders.

On the outside, Blake was calm and had a bored look on his face. On the inside, he was freaking out. ' _I'm going to die. No… She's going to bring me close to death, let me heal, beat me within an inch of my life, and the process will go on and on.'_ Blake thought to himself. He was snapped out of his thoughts when Layla waved her hand in front of his face. "Huh? What?"

"I asked about what you did with the dragon. I'm talking about when you threw those daggers and they became spears of darkness. That's not a spell I've ever heard of." Layla said as she walked next to him.

Lydia walked next to Layla. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't interested as well. She heard a couple of guards talking about Blake's ability to throw darkness at a dragon.

"Remember how I told you about the deal my ancestor made with Clavicus Vile?" Blake asked Layla who thought for a second before nodding. "I only mentioned this briefly before. I said how he was able to manipulate and control darkness. What I didn't tell you is that we can use darkness for a lot but it takes magic reserves just like a normal spell would. Only these spells take much more magicka than normal spells and it's a lot harder for us to learn or use spells without years of practice." Blake explained as darkness danced over his fingers to demonstrate his control. "See?"

"That's impressive. I had heard the tales of the Darkstrides having some sort of magic unique to them but I never believed it." Lydia said as she watched the darkness settle in the palm of Blake's hand. "Maybe that means you're more useful than a meatshield." Lydia said with a smirk causing Blake to scowl and glare at Lydia.

"Oh I'm a meatshield?! At least I don't walk around wearing armor heavier than I am!" Blake shot back.

The bickering between the two went on for awhile as they walked. Layla was laughing the whole way. At one point they had to stop because Layla was laughing so hard she was on her knees clutching her stomach as tears poured down her face. The trio continued on their journey with Layla now adding to the friendly insults as they traveled. They passed through Riverwood and found that Haming had wanted to stay with Gerdur and Hod seeing as how they treated him better than his parents had before. Blake and Layla had been glad that he found a new family to be around and they went on their way. But not before Camilla had tried to get Blake to stay with her that night.

After their stop in Riverwood, they had managed to make it to the ruins of Helgen and kill off the bandits that now inhabited the place. They stayed the night in the barracks, taking shifts on watch to make sure no bandits came back to attack them. They took what gold and valuable loot they could in the morning. They traveled a good part of the morning until they came to a path carved into the rocks with an image of a sword giving off some kind of power carved into the rocks.

"Here we are." Blake said as they stood at the entrance. "The path that leads to my home."He tightened the cloak around around himself before looking back to see Layla tracing her fingers into the carving on the rock and Lydia trying to warm her arms up. "Awwwww… Is the big Horker getting cold?" Blake smirked.

Lydia was about to retort when Blake's extra cloak fell over her head and the cloak Blake had been wearing was draped over Layla's shoulders. "Huh?" Both women said at the same time as they watched Blake head through the opening.

"It's going to get colder once we get there. You two are used to the cold like I am so it's better that you two have those." Blake continued walking down the path as both women put on the cloaks before running after him.

After another hour of walking, they came to an expanse of land large enough to hold two separate armies or become a place where dragons could live peacefully without the fear of being attacked. "By the divines…" Lydia got out as they stared at the land. The land was boxed in from all sides by mountains as tall as the Throat of the world but there were ice storms that constantly blew across the peaks, making it impossible for the mountains to be climbed over.

"This place is like a natural fortress…" Layla said as she noticed the expanse of trees that seemed to be teeming with life.

"C'mon… We still have a ways to go before we get to where we're going." Blake said as he let the other two through the forest and down a winding path. Soon enough, they came to a deserted village. The buildings looked to be decaying but some of the damage done to the buildings looked like some kind of beast had torn through the village but the damage didn't look like werewolves or any kind of best that was known to Tamriel.

They reached the center of the town but stopped when a loud roar sounded around them. Layla readied her bow while Lydia unsheathed her sword and shield. Blake looked to be calm despite the unknown beast that was roaring around them. The roars got closer and a massive white dragon three times the size of Mirmulnir, but not as big as the dragon that attacked Helgen, flew overhead. Layla got ready to fire her bow when the dragon landed in front of them. Lydia and Layla prepared to attack when Blake placed his hands on their weapons and stepped forward.

The dragon had white scales and slitted orange eyes. Despite being immensely bigger than Mirmulnir had been, this dragon had a sleeker appearance to it and didn't seem to have any kind of spikes protruding from its body. The membrane of the wings was was jet black instead of white. The dragon stared at Blake for the longest time before speaking. "Hi lost kung do daal het!" The dragon spoke in a female voice, surprising Lydia and Layla as they stared at the dragon.

Blake didn't flinch from the dragon's gaze"And a fine hello to you too… Mother."

 **Translations**

" **Nid! Zu'u vis ni kos viik!" : "No! I can not be defeated!"**

" **Vopraan Dovahkiin. Nii los nu hin heyv wah sav daar lein." : "Awaken Dragonborn. It is now your duty to save this world."**

" **Hi lost kung do daal het!" : "You have a lot of guts returning here!"**


	4. Chapter 4

The dragon stared at Blake for a few moments before smacking him down the road with her massive wing. Layla and Lydia moved to go help him when the dragon turned their way and growled. "Do not interfere. I will be back to discuss why you are with him." The dragon started moving down the road after Blake who was running into the forest that was close to the abandoned town. Layla and Lydia just stood there completely stunned. Blake's mother was a dragon? A dragon who didn't wish to kill humans?

"Oh dear…" A woman's voice said from behind Lydia and Layla. They both turned around to see a very beautiful woman with snow white hair tied in a bun, beautiful pale skin, brown eyes, wearing a blue kimono. At her right was a massive white sabre cat and on her left was a massive white wolf as big as the sabre cat. She was looking in the direction of Blake and the dragon with worry in her eyes. "She is not happy with him this time. He disappeared without warning and she's been scared out of her mind. She looked directly at Layla and Lydia, studying them before her eyes fell on Layla. "You're different." She said as her eyes scanned Layla more.

"I-I-I-I'm different?" Layla stuttered out not knowing what the woman meant. Lydia pulled out her sword and shield and stood in front of Layla, ready to defend her if need be. The wolf and sabretooth growled at Lydia

"Your blood and soul do not belong in that body of yours." She said as she placed her hands on both animal's heads, calming them down greatly. "I believe my mother can tell us why this is. However…" She looked back towards the forest to see some trees falling and what looked like an ice attack blowing into the air. "She's teaching my little brother a lesson. Come. Let's get out of this weather and somewhere… Warmer. Shall we?" The woman turned around and started walking towards a cave that sat on top of the hill, with her pets trailing next to her.

Layla and Lydia looked at each other before going after her. When they walked into the cave, they found it was extremely warm and bright inside the cave. There was a large tree with pink leaves just like the tree in Whiterun, only this one was much more alive and in full bloom. The ground was covered in grass and flowers with a few trees here and there. A lake surrounded the tree and there was an area that looked to be a massive nest off to the side that looked to have been disturbed recently. There were deep gouges all throughout the rock walls. There was a large wooden house off to the edge near the giant nest.

The woman pointed to a pathway in the wall that obviously led somewhere else. The two animals by her side darted off down the path to somewhere unknown. "Could one of you explain where my little brother has been the past few days?" The woman asked not looking back to see if they were following. "I already know why he disappeared. The Thalmor have had their eyes set on taking this land for themselves. How they found the passage leading here is beyond me but that is not important, they were repelled and my brother managed to reset the barrier that protects the entrance to the valley."

They arrived at the house and the woman turned to face them, more specifically, she turned to face Layla with an accusatory gaze. Layla proceeded to explain what happened at Helgen and what they had to go through the past few days including both dragon attacks. The woman had a concerned expression on her face when Layla mentioned the dragons. "If your brother was not there to save me, I would have died. I'm extremely grateful for him protecting me." She said. "Miss…"

"Elissa Heartwood." The woman said with a smile. "Thank you for keeping my brother in line but when my mother gets back, we must discuss the dragons coming back. My mother and a few others managed to go into hiding so long ago and have not been seen since." She was about to continue when the door burst open and two boys looking exactly alike came running out of the house. They both had short white hair that looked like Elissa's own hair but one of them had dark blue eyes while the other one had brown eyes.

"MOM! IS UNCLE BLAKE BACK?!" The one twin with brown eyes asked with a hint of excitement.

"YEAH! YEAH! IS HE BACK!" The twin with blue eyes shouted while hopping up and down.

"Zackery… How did you figure out he was back?" Elissa asked as she looked at the first twin.

"Me and Sage saw grandma leave the cave all mad and breathing fire!" Zackery said as he jumped up and down. "She was saying something about 'Killing him now that he's back'!"

"Oh mother…" Elissa sighed and kneeled down in front of Sage and Zackery. "Listen boys… Your uncle did something very bad and your grandmother needs to punish him." She said with a stern yet at the same time, kind voice.

Sage looked at his mother with a concerned expression, "Will he still be able to play with us then? He did promise that he would play with us."

"Of course sweetie. Where's your father at?" Elissa asked but noticed the two boys weren't paying attention to her anymore. They were staring at Layla and Lydia.

"Mom? Who are they?" Zackery asked.

"My thoughts exactly." A gruff voice said as a very large and muscled man wearing an iron chest piece and imperial boots on his feet, came out from the caves with a steel warhammer on his back. His left eye was blue but his right eye had an eyepatch over it. He had dark brown hair and a bit of stubble on his chin. There was a white wolf next to him with an eyepatch over its left eye just like the man.

"Oh there you are dear. I was wondering if you could set up two rooms for Blake's companions?" Elissa asked. The man grunted but kept an eye on them. Elissa sighed as her husband seemed wary of them still. "Layla. Lydia. This is my husband Dimitri. Dimitri these are Layla and Lydia. Now if you would please get some rooms ready?" She gave her husband a glare which got him moving.

"We don't want to impose on you Mrs. Heartwood." Layla said not wanting to take up space in their home.

"Oh don't mind my husband. He just doesn't trust strangers. Last stranger he trusted immediately took away his right eye. The legion saw him unable to fight for some unknown reason and he had to leave the military but was compensated for it. This was about twelve years ago." Elissa explained and stood up as the massive dragon from before stomped through the opening in the cave. Blake was behind her with multiple bruises and cuts on his body. Elissa raised an eyebrow when she saw that a few scales were missing from her mother's snout. "Did he manage to scratch you for once mother?" Elissa asked with amusement in her tone.

The dragon growled at her with annoyance. "He nicked me is all. He's finally starting to embrace his heritage but he's still holds back." She turned to Layla and Lydia. "I am Vurvoanai. My son has told me much about you two on our way back here."

"It is a pleasure to meet you Vurvoanai." Layla said with a smile.

"So how did he manage to hit you?" Lydia asked as she eyed the dragon carefully still not wanting to trust the dragon yet.

Ten Minutes Prior

Vurvoanai stalked the forest looking for Blake. She was following his scent and tracks through the forest. "I smell you around here, goraan gein." She growled as she knocked over a tree with his scent on it. She sniffed the air but barely dodged a large spear of darkness that embedded itself where she was once standing. She eyed the spear as it became a steel dagger and fell uselessly to the floor. "So you have finally accepted your vulom, your darkness." She mused. She dodged more spears of darkness that came from the trees above. "But it seems like you can only infused your vulom into objects. Your control is not yet at a level where you can maintain its physical form without a base."

A blur came down from the trees and Vurvoanai used her wing to shield herself. Blake's sword connected with her wing and Blake tried putting more strength into pushing her wing back. "Damnit!" Blake growled as he pushed even more.

Vurvoanai was surprised when Blake had actually started to push her wing back. She felt a bit of pride swell within her. Her son was finally accepting who he was but she was not letting him win this. She flicked her wing so that Blake's sword went flying across the forest and embedding itself in a tree. Blake jumped backwards and stood facing Vurvoanai. It looked like he wasn't ready to back down. Vurvoanai growled and snapped her teeth at him. "Give up. I've disarmed you. Admit defeat."

Blake growled back. "Never." Darkness swirled around his right hand surprising Vurvoanai even more. Blake lunged forward at the female dragon with his hand in a knifehand strike. The dragon wasn't able to move her head out of the way in time so Blake's hand scraped the side of her snout, shearing off some scales. Blake went flying past her and slammed into the tree behind Vurvoanai.

Vurvoanai looked at the spot on her snout where her flesh was showing. She turned in Blake's direction and observed him sitting against the tree, breathing hard. "I'm proud of you, kul." She said as she lightly pressed her snout into her son's chest. Blake was surprised by the action but eventually brought his hand up to rest on the dragon's snout. "Not only have you started to accept who you truly are, you finally managed to put a scratch on me." She said as her throat vibrated with a chuckle.

"So I'm not in trouble?" Blake asked with a weak smirk causing the dragon's throat to vibrate harder with laughter.

"Oh no… You're still in trouble but that can be discussed after I meet those two women you brought back. Though embarrassing you will be punishment enough." Vurvoanai said causing Blake to groan out in protest before standing up to retrieve his sword. Once he had his sword, they both started back towards the cave.

Present Time

Layla looked at Blake with confused expression, "How did this dragon beat you when Mirmulnir was so easy to kill?" Layla asked as she looked at Vurvoanai, trying to figure out what made her so much harder to beat.

Before Blake could answer, Vurvoanai scoffed at Layla's question. "Mirmulnir was a coward who preyed on those weaker than him. He did not deserve to be called a dovah." She said as she looked at Layla with an inquisitive eye. "However… I sense his presence within you but that is impossible unless you were…"

Blake cut off his mother before she could finish. "She is a dragonborn. I saw her absorb the soul of the dragon myself." Vurvoanai and Elissa looked at Layla with wide eyes.

"What is the dragonborn?" Sage and Zackery asked in unison.

Blake raised an eyebrow at his mother and sister. "You never told them the story of the dragonborn? I'm surprised." Both women glared at Blake making him go silent.

"So you are the dragonborn?" Lydia asked studying Layla. "Can't the dragonborn kill dragons indefinitely?"

"Yes but a dragonborn appearing now means that HE has returned to this world." Vurvoanai said gravely.

"Who's he?" Layla asked with confusion. "And why do you sound so concerned?"

"I am talking about Alduin, the World Eater." Vurvoanai explained. "Alduin is the first dragon every to be created by Akatosh himself. Alduin is… A vile being. His only goal is to destroy and enslave races that he thinks are below the Dovah. A long time ago… He was banished from time using an Elder Scroll. He is bigger and stronger than I am."

Blake sat up straight as he remembered Helgen. "Mom? What does Alduin look like?"

"His scales are black and his eyes are as red as yours. Why?" Vurvoanai asked with concern.

Layla understood where Blake was going and stared at the ground. "He was there at Helgen… All those people…"

"Mother… Blake and Layla were at Helgen. They were captured by the Imperials and the Thalmor. Layla told me what happened." Elissa said causing Vurvoanai to growl deeply, making everybody jumped at her growl.

"If he has returned then we need to prepare you for the fight against him." She said turning to Layla. "Only you can kill him and bring peace to this world."

"We should head to High Hrothgar then. The Greybeards did call you after all." Lydia said as she put a hand on her thane's shoulder.

"If the Greybeards did indeed call you, then they should train you. They can train you more in using your Thu'um more than I can." Vurvoanai said as she stretched her wings out. "I will fly you there in the morning."

Blake stood up from where he was sitting. "Elissa, can you take my place when they leave tomorrow?"

Elissa stared at her brother for a few moments. "You're not going with?" Blake shook his head. "Why not?"

"If we're going to be traveling around, someone needs to keep the Thalmor off our asses. I'm going to Solitude to try and get the Thalmor to lay off. They know what me and Layla look like and the Thalmor don't like having loose ends running around." Blake explained as Dimitri came out from the house.

"He's right. I had to work with the Thalmor a few times and it was quite unpleasant. They take prisoners, only to execute them away from prying eyes." Dimitri explained as he watched his sons climb on their Vurvoanai. "I can take care of the kids while you're gone."

Elissa sighed. "Fine I'll go but on one condition." Elissa said looking at Layla with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Layla gulped. "W-W-What would that be?"

"You have to come to Whiterun with me and join the Companions." Elissa said with a smile.

Something in Lydia's brain finally clicked. She jumped up pointing a finger at Elissa. "Y-You're Elissa of the Silver Flash!"

There were varied reactions to Lydia declaring this. Blake and Dimitri had impassive looks on their faces, Layla had her head cocked to the side in confusement, Vurvoanai stared at Lydia in amusement, and Elissa had a smile on her face. "I see my reputation hasn't diminished in the past decade." Elissa said folding her hands in her lap. "Most people have forgotten that title of mine."

"Uhm… Excuse me? Who are the Companions and why does Elissa want me to join them?" Layla asked as she stared at Elissa.

Blake answered that question. "The Companions are a warriors guild that solves various problems throughout Skyrim for a fee of course."

Elissa nodded. "That is correct. I'm surprised Blake didn't show you when you were both in Whiterun but I guess you two had more important matters to attend to. As to why I want you to join… Well I need a good excuse to teach you swordsmanship. One can not teach without purpose. You joining the companions will give both you and I the purpose to teach and learn." She got up dusting off her kimono. "Now then… I think we should prepare dinner, bathe, and get a good night's rest. We should leave early in the morning so that my mother doesn't cause any trouble in any towns. Lydia, Layla, if you would follow me please?" She started walking back towards the house with Lydia following closely asking many questions. Layla lingered by the front door looking at Blake.

Blake gave a small smile and a wave which Layla returned before walking inside. Dimitri left down the path he came from earlier with his canine companion by his side as well as his twin sons. This left Blake and Vurvoanai alone in silence.

"I know you have an ulterior motive for going to Solitude. I can feel your anger brewing inside of you like a storm. I have seen you angry only a few times." Vurvoanai said as she nuzzled her son's side. "What troubles you?"

"Elisif." Blake said as he stared at the ground. "Ulfric killed Torygg months ago in what was supposed to be a fair duel. I should have been there to comfort her." Blake clenched his hands hard.

Vurvoanai angled her head so that the tip of her snout was pressed against Blake's head. "Do not blame yourself goraan gein. Ulfric will pay for what he did that day. Torygg was a good man. He would not want his friend to blame himself for his death." Vurvoanai's throat thrummed causing Blake to calm down slightly.

Elissa, Lydia, and Layla came out of the house carrying various forms of food. Dimitri came back with the twins, lugging two massive deer over his shoulder while his wolf pulled a sled with a few more deer.

That night, they ate drank, and laughed together as they tried to prepare for the future battles to come. Vurvoanai came through on her threat to embarrass Blake by telling Layla and Lydia embarrassing stories of Blake including the time they had found him hanging upside down on a tree branch by his pants. The funniest story was a few years ago when Blake had gotten drunk and had tried fighting his reflection in the water with a drunk Torygg joining him as well. That had surprised Layla and Lydia that Blake had been good friends with the previous High King of Skyrim.

The next morning, everybody was standing at the opening to the cave saying their farewells. Elissa was wearing a wearing a Stalhrim light chestpiece, light Stalhrim gloves, and light Stalhrim boots. Attached to her hip was a rapier with a bluish silver appearance and intricate carvings that depicted a wolf and a sabre cat on it. She was currently hugging her twin boys goodbye and giving her husband a kiss before turning to Layla, Lydia, Vurvoanai, and Blake.

Blake looked at his sister with a raised eyebrow. "Never thought I'd see you wear that armor ever again."

Elissa patted his cheek with a smile. "Oh I you'd be surprised at what I still have lying around. Now don't you have to be on your way to Solitude?"

Blake rolled his eyes and looked to Layla who was giving him worried glances. "Hey don't worry. I've traveled alone a bunch of times before so this is nothing new to me. I'll meet you guys at Whiterun. It'll take me a few days to get to Solitude but I'm also going to have some other things to take care of."

Layla stared at Blake for a few seconds before quickly kissing his cheek with a blush on her face. "Just be careful and don't cause any trouble." Blake's mind had shut down so he could only nod dumbly causing everybody to laugh.

"We should depart now. The longer we wait the greater the chance of us being attacked by archers or another dragon. Be safe kul. Zu'u lokaal hi." Vurvoanai said as the three females mounted her back and she flew off while Blake turned to his brother-in-law with a sigh.

"If anything happens…" Blake started.

"I know. I will only use that as a last resort. The traps have all been set in case of an attack." He and Blake gripped each other's forearms.

"Try and keep your father from drinking too much mead." Blake said to Sage and Zackery with a wink before walking into the mountain pass. Things were about to get interesting real fast.

Translations

"Goraan gein" : "Young one"

"Vulom" : "Darkness"

"Kul" : "Son"

"Zu'u lokaal hi." : "I love you."


	5. Chapter 5

"So you like my little brother do you?" Elissa said to Layla in a teasing tone as Vurvoanai flew towards the Throat of the World. "What attracted you to him? Was it his muscles? Maybe it was his fighting skills that wooed you?"

Layla's face was bright red as the teasing from Elissa continued. Elissa hadn't said anything at first but she had looked at Layla with a mischievous smirk on her face. "I-I-I don't like him like that!" She cried indignantly.

"Yeah sure you don't. That's why you kissed his cheek in front of all of us." Lydia said joining in on the fun. "If you don't want him I'll just take him. He would probably give me some strong nordic children."

"NO HE'S MINE!' Layla yelled but quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment, her face turning an even darker shade of red.

Vurvoanai chuckled at the poor girl's misfortune. ' _Oh you poor girl. You deny your love for him because you feel you're unworthy.'_ Layla had told them about how her family had been nomads just like some khajiit caravans in Skyrim. Vurvoanai realized that Layla felt herself unworthy because of her commoner heritage unlike Blake who spent the beginning years of his life in a clan. ' _You do not realize how special you truly are even without your status as Dovahkiin.'_

After a bit more flying, they arrived at the Throat of the world and landed at a sort of temple with an old man wearing hooded grey robes kneeling on the a platform with his eyes closed. He looked to be in a meditative state as he made no move to acknowledge that they were there.. Layla, Lydia, and Elissa climbed off of Vurvoanai as she spread her wings to take flight again. "There is something that I must do at the summit. Call for me when you three are ready to depart." She took off towards the summit.

At that point the old man had opened his eyes to see the three women making their way towards him. His eyes locked onto Layla who seemed a bit disturbed that he was staring straight at her. "You are the dragonborn." He stated standing up as he walked towards them. "I am master Arngeir. We have waited for you dragonborn but I must ask that you demonstrate your Thu'um on me." He said as he stood there waiting.

Layla walked forwards so she was standing across from and took a deep breath as she searched for the energy that she felt before when she first used a shout. "FUS!" She shouted, making Arngeir stumble slightly.

"You truly have the gift. Please follow me. I suspect that you have many questions which I will answer and then we will begin your training." Arngeir said as he led the three women into the temple to start Layla's training.

 **Top of the Mountain**

A massive white dragon sat atop a crumbling word wall with its eyes closed. He felt the presence of two of his fellow dov, dragon brethren. He felt one enter the temple while the other flew up the mountain towards him. He did not open his eyes even when he felt the ground shake in front of him. He slowly opened his eyes to see a dragon with whiter and shinier scales land in front of him with a displeased look in its eyes. "Vurvoanai, Hi frolok ol brit ol alun." He said as he bowed his head to her.

"IIZ SLEN NUS!" Vurvoanai let out a massive stream of ice which covered him in ice. "Paarthurnax!" She roared with annoyance.

"What brings you to my strunmah?" Paarthurnax asked as he cocked his head to the side not at all fazed by the ice on his scales which was slowly thawing from the heat on his body.

"You know why I'm here Paarthurnax. Alduin has returned and the last dragonborn has emerged as prophecy has said with the Kel, the Elder Scroll." She said as she looked into the distant land. "You always did like this mountain but I suspect you chose it for a different reason." She said as she continued to watch the sun bathe the land in light.

"You are much different than you were all those years ago. You have become calmer." Paarthurnax said as he looked at Vurvoanai. "You disappeared after Alduin was banished. I thought that the Blades had gotten to you." He said making Vurvoanai scoff.

"They almost did. Luckily I escaped with the help of Hakon. I escaped to my cave that rests on the land that now belongs to the Darkstrides where I sealed myself off and fell into a deep slumber." Vurvoanai explained as she turned her head to face Paarthurnax. "I only awoke fifteen years ago when I felt an immense power lay waste to the Darkstride clan. A small hatchling of six years was forced to enter a terrible form and eradicated his clan."

Paarthurnax dipped his head as a sign of respect. Previous Greybeards had told him of the Darkstrides emergence, their deeds throughout the land, and their more recent demise. When he had asked Arngeir how they had been destroyed, Arngeir had told him that no one knew how or why this had happened. The clan was simply gone. "I assume you took him in?" It was more of a statement than an actual question.

"What kind of dovah would I be if I didn't? I couldn't let him die alone, cold, and afraid. I failed to protect my own hatchlings all those years ago… I wouldn't fail to protect this one even if he wasn't mine." Vurvoanai said with a fire in her eyes that both surprised Paarthurnax but also relieved him that the same Vurvoanai that he had known years ago was still the same dovah in front of him.

"I see. Now let us discuss the current issue of Alduin returning. I know that the kel prophesied the last dovahkiin returning with Alduin but I must know if you are sure." Paarthurnax stretched his wings and slide down from the word wall with grace.

"The way Blake and Layla described the dragon that attacked them leaves no doubt in my mind that it was him. That it was Alduin. Black scales, crimson red eyes, a massive body that puts both mine and yours to shame. It's him Paarthurnax. He has definitely returned." Vurvoanai's roar was full of rage, anger, and pain as she breathed a stream of ice into the air.

Paarthurnax shuddered at her roar. He had only seen her truly angry after her hatchlings had been killed by Alduin himself. She had felled many other dov and would do so again if history repeated itself with the hatchling she had taken under her wing. "Then we need the kel that was used so many years ago."

"Agreed but Hakon told me before the Blades attacked that Felldir had been ambushed by the dwarves and was killed. They stole the Elder scroll off of his body and hid it somewhere." Vurvoanai explained with a hint of sorrow in her voice. "I fear that it is not on Nirn anymore or is buried beneath one of the Dwemer ruins."

"I will consult with Arngeir on this matter. I suggest that you do the same with your group. We will need it if we are to defeat Alduin." Paarthurnax said. "But let us catch up. I want to know more about this hatchling that you have taken in and the newest dovahkiin that has emerged. I do not want any surprises when I meet them." Paarthurnax chuckled and Vurvoanai joined in.

 **High Hrothgar Temple a Few Days Later**

"FUS RO DAH!" Layla yelled as she sent a wooden dummy that was staked into the ground, flying off the cliff in the courtyard behind the temple. She was clad in a long white shirt that was soaked with sweat, brown trousers, and black boots meant for the snow. She didn't bother wearing her hair in a ponytail since it would just come undone while she trained. She still had on the necklace given to her by her mother even though it could get ruined by the rigorous training she was going through.

She had been there a few days now, learning the words of power for a few new shouts. She had mastered the first word of power for Whirlwind Sprint shout, learned the remaining two words of power for the Unrelenting Force shout, and the first word of the Fire Breath shout. Originally Master Arngeir had wanted her to go retrieve the Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. That changed when a massive and older looking white dragon with paler scales than Vurvoanai landed in the courtyard where they were training and told Arngeir that retrieving the horn could wait.

She panted and placed her hands on her knees. She had been training since morning but it was getting close to night time as the sun began to set. She stood up straight to watch the sun set as she clutched the necklace tightly in her hand. "Mom…" She thought closing her eyes as she remembered her family, not noticing the frost troll sneaking up on her.

The troll let out a roar as it swung its massive hand at Layla in an attempt to grab her but her reflexes caused her to jump away in time. The troll didn't like that its prey had managed to avoid it so easily so it charged forward at her. Layla spotted her bow and arrows leaning against the archway that started the trail to the top of the mountain. The sun had almost set and visibility would be a problem for her. She cursed the walls of High Hrothgar for being so thick that barely a sound from outside echoed within the temple. She side stepped the troll's charge and took a deep breath of air. "WULD!" She shouted and went half across the courtyard. She started running towards the pillar where her bow and arrows were. She got to the pillar and grabbed her bow and a single arrow before turning around but the troll was already a two feet away from her, its arm already in swinging motion.

She tried to jump back but the troll's hand had managed to cut her deep enough to draw blood but cause no serious damage and rip off part of her shirt along with her necklace. "FUS RO!" She shouted as she fell back sending the troll staggering back a few steps. The land became dark as the sun fully disappeared. Layla felt her body begin to warm up even though it was supposed to be cold. Her eyes widened as she no longer felt the familiar weight of her necklace on her chest. She saw attached to the troll's hand was her necklace.

' _OH NO!'_ She screamed in her head as her body began to change. Golden fur began to spread across her body as her body became larger and sleeker causing her clothes to shred. Three golden fluffy tails sprouted from the bottom end of her spine and waved behind her. Her face transformed into a large snout with her teeth enlarging and become sharper while her eyes became green slits. Her nails became sharp claws and on the top of her head, fox ears developed. She got down on all fours as her transformation finished. In Layla's place stood a golden three tailed fox the size of a full grown bear.

The troll was too busy trying to rip the necklace and cloth off of its hand to notice Layla's transformation. The troll finally noticed the giant fox and started looking for the human it was about to devour, it didn't think the fox was much of a threat. This made the fox growl in anger that it was being ignored.

There was a gasp causing both beings to turn to the source. Standing in at the door to High Hrothgar was Lydia who had seen Layla change the moment the sun went down. "L-Layla?" Lydia asked causing the massive fox to lower its head in shame. The troll didn't stand idly by as it started running at Lydia who stood there shocked at Layla's transformation.

Layla let out a howl and jumped onto the trolls back, clawing and biting the beast to try and keep it from getting to her friend. Everybody in the temple must have heard the commotion because soon enough, the Greybeards and Elissa were all outside standing next to a still stunned Lydia.

Elissa was the first to react as she spotted the bloodied remains of Layla's clothing. "Oh gods no…" She whispered and rushed forward. ' _I can't take both of these beasts on with my sword alone. It has been awhile since I've done this but I don't have any other choice. A kitsune with one tail is hard enough to deal with but one with three tails?'_ She thought as her body began to transform. White fur erupted all over her body and there an extremely large and beautiful werewolf with white fur.

Elissa rammed into Layla and troll causing them all to fall over with Layla trapped beneath the troll. Elissa took the chance and ripped out the throat of the troll causing it to struggle for a few seconds before going limp. Her eyes turned to Layla and if here sense weren't in combat mode, she would have realized that the fox had the same scent as Layla did. Elissa lowered her head towards the fox's neck which made it struggle and whimper. "STOP!" Elissa's teeth were an inch from Layla's neck but stopped when Elissa had heard Lydia.

Lydia came running up and started trying to push Elissa off of Layla. "That's Layla! I saw her transform myself! She was trying to defend me!" Lydia managed to push Elissa off of Layla despite her being a massive werewolf and started to pull the dead troll off of Layla's form.

Elissa's adrenaline high began to wear off and she took the time to sniff the air. The scent of vanilla and roses that usually came off of Layla also seemed to come from the fox that Lydia was helping. Elissa transformed back, her armor and clothes remaining intact even after the transformation. "Is that really you Layla?" She said as she looked at the fox whose head bent in shame. "Layla I'm so sorry I attacked you…" Elissa pressed Layla's snout into her chest and stroked her golden ears. The Greybeards stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do.

"Go inside. I will find out what happened." Arngeir said to the other Greybeards who bowed and went back inside. Arngeir started walking over towards the three and cleared his throat. "I have to know… What caused this transformation dragonborn?"

Layla pawed the ruined necklace attached to the troll's hand and whined sadly. Elissa thought for a moment before understanding what had happened. "You can't control when you transform can you?" She asked causing Layla to nod her head. "That must also explain why neither me nor my mother could identify you as a fox." Another nod.

"Can you help her?" Arngeir asked as he looked between the two of them.

"If you are referring to the fact that I am a werewolf then yes I can help her but I need you to go inside and for Lydia to grab a blanket. When she transforms back she won't be wearing any clothes." Elissa explained. Arngeir went back inside as did Lydia but the latter came out a few minutes later carrying a blanket.

"Alright Layla… I need you to listen to me carefully and do as I say. I need you to close your eyes and think of someone important to you. Think about their very existence and the happiness that it brings you." Layla did as she was told and closed her eyes. Her mind instantly went to Blake's smirk and how kind he was to her. She started humming happily while she was in deep thought. Her body started changing again. Her fur disappeared from her body and her human features were visible. Once she was back to normal she fell against Elissa who held her tightly while Lydia wrapped the blanket around Layla's naked form.

"Let's get her inside and out of the cold. Can you grab her gear while I take her to her room? Try and get the necklace as well. It won't work anymore but I'm sure she'll still want it." Elissa said as she picked up Layla and carried her inside. Lydia pried the half crushed necklace out of the troll's hand and spit on the dead beast before walking over to Layla's bow and arrows and grabbing them before walking inside towards Layla's room. She did this while thinking, ' _So werefoxes aren't extinct.'_

 **A Few Hours Earlier Near Solitude**

Jarl Elisif the Fair sighed and pushed her hair out of her face as she walked along the road that led out of Solitude. A lone Thalmor guard trailed behind her but Sybille, her trusted court wizard who was also a vampire in service of her and previous Jarls of Solitude, walked by her side. She was one of the few true friends she really had. She looked ahead as the sun was beginning its descent that would cover the land in a shroud of darkness that would soon be crawling with creatures of the night. Elisif knew she shouldn't be going out this close to dark but she just wanted to visit her husband's burial site as was her weekly custom since Ulfric had killed her dear husband.

"Jarl Elisif." Sybille's voice snapped Elisif out of her thoughts. "Are you ok? You almost missed the turn that leads to his grave." Sybille said as her crimson eyes stared at her with worry from beneath her hood.

"I'm fine Sybille. Just lost in thought and please call me Elisif when we're not in the Blue Palace. It just feels out of place for you to call me that out here." Elisif said with a smile causing Sybille to sigh with a smile.

"Yes Ja-...I mean, Yes Elisif." Sybille corrected herself as she almost called her by her title. This caused Elisif to giggle slightly. The Thalmor behind them rolled his eyes and scoffed at their friendly conversation but both women ignored him as they walked up the path.

The path they walked eventually led to a fairly large outcropping that looked out over the land. There was a single apple tree that sat near the ledge with a gravestone marker with a decorated steel sword with a black and red dragon coiling each other on the flat of the blade. Engraved into the stone was, ' _ **Here Lies High King Torygg. The True High King of Skyrim And Her People, A Husband, A Friend, And A Brother To Those Who Knew Him.'**_ Elisif felt tears roll down her cheeks as she knelt in front of the grave. She touched the hilt of the sword that had been given to Torygg as a gift by a good friend of his that she hadn't seen for months.

"I miss you dearly husband… I promise you that justice will be brought to the man who killed you in such a dishonorable way." Elisif said as she kissed the headstone only for the Thalmor to scoff once more at her display of affection for the dead. Only then did she notice the bouquet of red roses that were leaning against the side of the headstone. The roses caused her to smile. Sybille knelt next to her, paying her respects to the man she helped raise, with a bowed head.

The sound of bones breaking and a thud came from behind them. They quickly jumped up thinking they were under attack by bandits when they saw a cloaked figure standing over the dead body of the Thalmor guard whose head was bent at an odd angle. "Trash." He said as he spit on the body.

"Who are you?" Sybille demanded as she moved in front of Elisif with lightning magic flaring in both hands. "Do you know who we are?"

"No shit I know who you are. If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead. You did teach me the art of grace... Aunt Sybille." The figure raised his head to reveal crimson red eyes and a small smirk.

"Blake?" Elisif asked uncertain if this was really him.

Blake removed his hood and took a bow with his smirk still present. "Sir Blake Darkstride at your service." He stood up to full height to receive an apple thrown at his head. "OW!" He cried as he rubbed the red spot on his head.

"Why couldn't you approach us like normal people?" Sybille said with arms crossed over her chest and a stern look on her face.

"Oh like you don't know with those observational skills of yours." Blake snapped back glaring at Sybille.

Elisif stared at Blake in confusion. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"She wasn't told what happened?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

"There was really no chance for me to tell her. The Thalmor have been keeping a close eye on her the entire time." Sybille gestured towards the Thalmor soldier Blake had just killed.

"Sybille what happened?" Elisif said in a stern voice.

"Despite your husband's decree that the Darkstride land was not to be touched, Elenwen sought to take the land by force and sent twenty-five Thalmor Justiciars and soldiers to secure the land." Sybille explained causing Elisif's face to go from one of shock to one of pure anger.

"How dare she!?" Elisif yelled. "They have no right!"

"Elisif calm down. Those idiots were dealt with. I made sure of it but unfortunately I was captured and was to be executed without trial." Blake explained as he walked towards them and plucked an apple from the tree.

"E-Executed? She tried to execute you?" Elisif asked in disbelief and horror. "General Tullius did he…?"

"He had no choice in the matter. I don't blame him. Right now I'm wanted by the Thalmor and was wondering if you could help me out here." Blake took a bite of the apple and stared into the distance.

"Of course I'll help you but I want to know… Were you at Helgen?" Elisif asked. Blake remained silent which gave her the answer she needed. "I see… I heard from General Tullius that Ulfric was there but he escaped. I'm surprised you didn't kill him."

Blake's grip on the apple tightened to the point where it was crushed in his hand. "I wanted to… By the divines I wanted to but I couldn't not when a dragon was slaughtering people left and right." He sighed and looked down at the gravestone with sadness. "Torygg wouldn't want him killed like that. He would want Ulfric to have a fair trial."

Elisif put a hand on Blake's shoulder. "We will bring Ulfric to justice for what he did. It's only a matter of time." Elisif smiled at Blake who gave a small smile in return.

"We should head back now. It's getting dark and I don't want to come back in the dark but that actually works to our advantage." Sybille looked at the dead Thalmor soldier. "I say we blame that one's death on a werewolf that Blake saved us from."

"Good idea. I don't want to be blamed for any more Thalmor death's even though it's a good thing." Blake walked over and kicked the body before hoisting it over his shoulder and throwing it off the ledge. "Stupid bastard. Don't disrespect the dead." He spit over the edge before walking to where Sybille and Elisif were waiting for him.

 **Solitude: The Blue Palace Courtroom**

Elisif, Sybille, and Blake made it to the the Blue Palace without much issue. Just a few wolves that were scared off by Sybille's lightning. When they arrived back at Solitude, the guards had inquired where the Thalmor soldier that had been with them was. They had explained that a troll had come across their path and the soldier had been killed by it. Blake had been on his way to Solitude and killed the troll as it was advancing on the two women.

As they walked into the courtroom, they encountered Elenwen and General Tullius who was flanked by Legate Rikke. Upon seeing them enter, Elenwen ordered the Thalmor with her to arrest Blake. "Arrest that man! He is wanted for killing an entire platoon of soldiers for no reason!" Elenwen screeched. Every Thalmor soldier in the room pointed his or her sword at Blake who just stood there with a calm face.

Elisif walked right up to Elenwen and got in her face which surprised the Thalmor Emissary greatly. "Listen here Elenwen. You are not to arrest this man. He has done nothing wrong. If anything, he is the victim here. You sought to take land and secrets from him which do not belong to you!" Everybody in the room but Blake and Sybille were shocked at this statement. "My husband, the High King of Skyrim, declared a law before he passed away that nobody was to mess with the Darkstrides or their land. By attacking Blake… You are breaking that law and Blake has choice to let it go or choose any punishment that he deems fit. Even execution." Elisif growled angrily making Elenwen back up a few steps.

The normally calm and kind Elisif was threatening her and with everybody watching, Elenwen only had two choices, kill Elisif for threatening her like that, or accept whatever punishment the last Darkstride had for her. Elenwen doubted that she would be able to kill Elisif with General Tullius and his Legate in the room, the few Solitude guards around the courtroom, Bolgeir Bearclaw, Elisif's Housecarl, and Blake himself all there to prevent the woman's demise.

The other option could result in Blake humiliating her completely, forcing the Thalmor out of Skyrim, or executing her on the spot or all three. She decided to go with the second option since it didn't matter either way. "I will accept any punishment the Darkstride has for me for my actions against him." Elenwen grit her teeth and snarled at Blake who stood there with a huge smirk on his face.

"Good." Elisif smiled brightly and walked back to Blake. "What is your punishment for her Blake?"

Blake stared at Elenwen for a few seconds before smiling. "I'll overlook this incident just this one time." Murmurs erupted around the courtroom at Blake's decision to overlook the attack on his land.

"Thank you for your kindness Darkstride." Elenwen gave a small bow but as she was passing Blake, he held out his arm to stop her.

"I'm not done yet." Elenwen stared at Blake, noticing that he was now glaring at her, his eyes filled with hatred. "If you try this shit again… I will destroy everything you have worked for right before your very eyes and only then I will kill you. I'll then send your severed head to the leaders of the Aldmeri Dominion and declare a fucking war against them. Myself against all of the soldiers that they have to throw at me. I will slaughter them all with ease and you will watching down from whatever afterlife you are in… Knowing that this was your doing." Elenwen's face paled at the declaration.

He had to be bluffing but the look in his eyes told her that he would do this. The Aldmeri Dominion would be destroyed by a single man and nobody would stop him. "I-I-I understand." Elenwen stuttered and pushed past Blake and out the door, followed by her squad of Thalmor.

Blake watched her go and turned to see General Tullius approaching him cautiously. "Don't worry General Tullius. I don't hold her actions against you." Blake said in a calm voice.

General Tullius breathed a sigh of relief. "Did you really mean what you said?"

"Of course he did. At age fourteen he could take on an entire group of bandits on his own." Sybille said as she sat down on the bench aside of Elisif's thrown where Elisif now sat with a happy expression on her face. "That was when he only starting to incorporate his clan's fighting style into his fights."

"Oh I'd love to spar with him some time. I need someone that actually makes me think on my toes." Legate Rikke laughed.

"Yeah we can spar. If you want to wind up on your ass in five seconds." Blake said with a smirk before turning to Tullius. "You're not going to arrest me for talking to the Thalmor Ambassador like that are you?"

"Kid… I wish I could threaten Elenwen like you and Jarl Elisif just did." General Tullius chuckled and started walking towards the door with Rikke following behind. "Don't get yourself killed out there. It would be a shame if a man like you was killed." General Tullius called over his shoulder.

"Blake turned to Elisif who was smiling at him. "Thank you Jarl Elisif. Could you also tell them not to attack the dragonborn?"

"Of course but I have a favor to ask of you." Elisif said as her face became serious.

"As long as it isn't guard duty or finding out who stole your sweet role, name it." Blake replied breaking the woman's serious face for a moment as she giggled.

"The Jarl of Morthal has asked us to send someone to help deal with some of the vampire attacks going on. Six guards have been attacked and fed off of during the night in the past week. They found a blood trail leading to a cave on the outskirts of town and based off of the number of bite marks on the victims… There are a lot of vampires to deal with." She said in a worried tone of voice.

"I'll take care of it. It should be easy to deal with if I kill them silently." Blake bowed to the Jarl of Solitude.

"Thank you." Elisif breathed a sigh of relief. Blake turned to leave. "Be careful out there. I lost Torygg, I can't lose you as well."

Blake gave her a reassuring smile before walking out of the Blue Palace.

 **Before you all start giving me shit about what Layla is… Remember that this story is called 'The Awakening of Beasts' for a reason! If you don't like it, you don't have to read.**


	6. Chapter 6

Blake wrote down on a parchment, a letter for his sister up at High Hrothgar. He wasn't going to use a regular courier to deliver the letter. He highly doubted that the courier would be able to survive the trek up to High Hrothgar and deliver it in a short amount of time. Thankfully his heritage had another benefit that came along with the darkness. He could take command the minds of animals like small birds or rodents for espionage.

Blake had stayed the night in the Winking Skeever to rest before going off to fight vampires. Fighting vampires at night would prove to be annoying. Vampires were strongest at night so fighting them during the day would provide a decent advantage for him.

After finishing his letter he walked out of the Winking skeever and gave a low whistle while holding out his arm. A few seconds later, a hawk dove from the sky and landed on his arm. "High Hrothgar as quickly as you can fly my friend." He said to the hawk as he tied the letter to its leg. The hawk stared at him before it spread its wings and flew off into the sky. Blake watched the hawk disappear in the direction of High Hrothgar before walking towards the gate and on his way to Morthal.

 **High Hrothgar: Few Hours Later**

Layla held a wooden sword in her hand and was trying to deflect strikes from Elissa who had a wooden rapier in her hand. "Adjust your balance Layla!" Elissa commanded as she thrusted her rapier forward. Layla barely deflected the strike that was aimed at her chest but soon found herself lying on her back with the tip of Elissa's rapier pointed at her throat. "You are improving but you rely too much on thinking things ahead. The mind can only think so fast. You are a fox. Foxes are cunning but they also have an instinct like most animals have. Follow your instinct." Elissa offered her hand to Layla who took it with a smile. Layla's smile turned into a grin as she pulled Elissa down into the snow and pinned her arms to the ground.

"I follow my instinct when I have a bow in my hand. It helps to shoot targets that most people would have trouble with." Layla said with a fox like grin.

"Oh? I didn't know you were into as well as men Layla." Elissa said with a sultry grin that caused Layla to look down and see that she was straddling Elissa's waist. She blushed quickly and jumped off of her causing Elissa to laugh.

A chuckle was heard behind them as Vurvoanai watched them from where she lay basking in the sun. "Oh Elissa. Stop teasing the poor girl. She already has enough trouble admitting her feelings for Blake. No need to add on any more stress." Vurvoanai teased as she looked at Layla. Layla covered her face with her hands to hide the massive blush on her face from Vurvoanai's teasing.

There was screech above them and they all looked up to see a hawk circling above them. Elissa held her arm out to give the hawk somewhere to land. The hawk landed on her arm ruffling the feathers on its wing. Elissa saw a parchment tied to the hawks foot and removed the parchment from its leg. "Fly home." Elissa said in a kind voice to the hawk to which it flew off her arm back towards Solitude.

Elissa quickly unfurled the parchment and read over its contents before sighing in annoyance. "Mother, Blake is about to do something reckless again."

Vurvoanai snorted and lifted her head from where it lay. "When is he not doing something reckless? What is up to now?" She asked.

"You'll like this. The Jarl of Solitude has asked Blake to deal with a nest of vampires that have been attacking Morthal guards. He accepted." Elissa said in a neutral voice.

"THAT MEYUZ! THAT MORON!" Vurvoanai roared as she slammed the top of her head into the ground causing it to crack. "I WILL SKIN HIS HIDE WHEN I FIND HIM! GATHER YOUR THINGS! WE'RE GOING TO HELP HIM THEN KILL HIM!" Vurvoanai roared as she stood up. Eliss and Layla quickly went about collecting their belongings and grabbing Lydia before saying farewell to the Greybeards and that Layla would return to finish her training later.

They climbed onto Vurvoanai's back and she instantly took off into the air in the Direction of Morthal all the while swearing curses at Blake in her natural tongue.

"I know Vampires are dangerous by why's Vurvoanai so upset about Blake taking on vampires?" Lydia asked as Vurvoanai flew through the air at high speeds.

"She has always worried about vampires turning Blake into a thrall. We assume that they would use Blake to impregnate vampire women. The Darkstride blood that would run through the vampire children's veins would give them inner beasts that would protect them from the effects of the sun. In maybe a few decades, the land would be overrun by these hybrids and because they don't age like we do… They would eventually take over the world." Elissa explained causing Lydia and Layla to look at her with expressions of shock and horror.

"Would the same thing occur with a Darkstride that was bitten and turned?" Layla asked fearing the answer.

"Yes. Their inner beasts would protect them from the sun but they wouldn't be as powerful. I have found in the Darkstride archives that there have been multiple incidents where members of the clan have been turned into vampires and had to be put down." Elissa said as she pulled a large old looking book out of her bag. "Even worse you could only tell they were a vampire by their fangs or watching them drink blood. They could blend right into a city and infect it from within."

"So that's why Vurvoanai is scared for Blake." Layla said as she ran her hand along her scales. "Blake would essentially become a breeding pig for the vampires. A life no one should live."

They fell into silence as Vurvoanai flew towards Morthal. They landed in front of the cave that reeked of blood and had a pile of ash and a vampire body lying in front of the entrance. "He's already here. Hurry and get to him. I'll make sure no vampires come in behind you."

All three women nodded and ran inside the cave, following the trail of ash piles, dead thralls, and dead vampires. They finally came upon Blake who was poking his head around the corner watching what was going on in the massive cavern. Layla tapped Blake on the shoulder and he instantly spn around hand on his sword. When he realized who was behind him, he let out a sigh of relief held a finger to his lips to be quiet. All three of them nodded and they slowly made their way back away from the massive cavern.

"So I count ten vampires in that main room not including the head honcho Movarth. I saw him drag a woman away earlier with an Elder Scroll in his hands. Don't know what he's doing but if it involves an Elder Scroll it can't be good." Blake whispered to them as he threw his tattered and bloodied cloak to the side.

"Who was the woman?" Elissa asked as she got her rapier ready for battle.

"No idea but she's probably still alive. She was only dragged away a few minutes ago." Blake said as he pulled a few daggers off of one of the corpses in the room.

"Any plans on how we should proceed?" Lydia asked.

"Yeah. Elissa and I can get their attention and engage them directly while you two pick them off with arrows." Blake said as he threw an elven bow to Lydia who inspected it before slinging it over her shoulder.

"Let's do this." Layla said with a grin.

 **Main Chamber**

"What do you think Movarth is doing with that woman?" One female vampire asked as she fed off of a Morthal guard who instantly went limp in her arms.

"Boss is probably having his way with her. I know I would. That woman had a damn fine body. Especially that ass of hers." An orc vampire replied as he played cards against a female breton vampire.

"Is that all you ever think about? Sticking your dick in any woman we catch before feeding off them?" The breton vampire asked in disgust as she threw down her hand to reveal that she won. She was about to collect her winnings when an arrow pierced the side of her head, instantly killing her.

"What the fu-" The orc was cut off as an arrow pierced his skull as well. Their deaths did not go unnoticed by the remaining vampires in the room.

"We have intruders!" One vampire called as he dodged an arrow. He looked up to see a nord with long black hair and red eyes standing at the entrance next to a woman with white hair wearing stalhrim armor. "THERE!" He pointed at the entrance as he and the remaining vampires rushed them only for more arrows to come at them with two more vampires dying.

Blake was smirking the whole time he fought off two opponents while his sister also fought off two opponents. The remaining two vampires had disappeared and he could only assume that they were going after Layla and Lydia. He knew they would be find but the thought of Layla being turned into a vampire or a thrall, made his blood boil. One of the vampires jumped back while her partner continued to distract Blake. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her charging an ice spell in her hands. Just as the vampire cast her spell, Blake used the other vampire he had been fighting as a shield to take the ice spike that had been launched. The Vampire in his arms died instantly. Blake threw the body into the other vampire and cut off her head before she could get up.

Blake looked to his side to see Elissa having impaled one vampire with her rapier and the other laying face first in the ground with his neck bent at an odd angle. Two simultaneous thuds echoed behind him and he looked to see the two remaining vampires both pierced with multiple arrows.

"I forgot what the thrill of battle felt like." Elissa said with a smile on her face as she pulled a rag out of her side pouch and used it to clean off the black blood that stained her weapon. Layla and Lydia joined them as they passed around disease cure potions just in case. Elissa didn't need to drink one because of the wolf blood running through her veins but she did so anyway. "We only need the leader right? He will be quite unhappy that we killed off his subjects."

"Oh I am far from unhappy… I am absolutely livid right now." An extremely pissed off voice echoed from the far side of the cavern. The group looked up to see a balding breton with glowing orange eyes that were filled with rage. He wore brown trousers and boots but wore nothing to cover his chest. He stood next to a bound, gagged, and blindfolded woman on her knees. "I was about to have my way with this wench here who Lord Harkon has taken an interest in for some reason but then you four come along, kill my subjects, and interrupt me as I'm about to dominate this woman. None of your deaths will be painless." He hissed as he drew a daedric sword from its sheathe.

"Go get the woman! I'll handle this fucker!" Blake yelled and dashed forward, his blade clashing with the lead vampire's sword.

"Come. We need to get that woman and get her out of harm's way." Elissa said as she, Layla, and Lydia ran towards the woman and carried her back towards the entrance.

"What about Blake?" Layla worriedly glanced at Blake who was dancing around the vampire, deflecting his sword as he tried to find an opening.

"We will only get in his way. If we were to intervene, he wouldn't be able to move around as freely. We must wait and take care of this woman while he deals with the vampire." Elissa explained as she cut the bindings of the captive. The woman removed the gag and the blindfold causing the three to step back and ready their weapons.

The woman had glowing orange eyes similar to the vampire Blake was fighting and had two protruding from her mouth. She had black hair that fell to her neck and wore a black cape around her shoulders. When she saw the three women getting ready to attack, she held up her hands defensively. "Wait Wait Wait! I'm not going to attack you but you need to warn your friend about Movarth. Movarth can-!" She was cut off when Blake flew passed them and slammed into the wall.

They all looked from Blake to Movarth who had changed in appearance. He was taller than he was before and his skin was even paler now. He had two bat like wings protruding from his back and seemed to hover above the ground. His mouth was in a scowl which revealed his extremely large fangs protruding from his top of his mouth. "You will no longer die… You will all become my personal play things. Each day I will use you how I see fit and drain the blood from your body only to stop just before you die. I WILL OWN YOU!" He roared and prepared magic in both hands, his daedric sword long forgotten.

Lydia raised her shield and sword while standing next to Elissa who settled into a fighting stance with her rapier. Layla stood behind them and started firing arrows at the transformed vampire only for the arrows to bounce harmlessly off of his chest. Lydia and Elissa charged at Movarth with their weapons ready. He simply batted them out of the way with his arms, sending them flying to opposite ends of the cavern. Layla continued to fire arrows at the vampire which only served to annoy him. "You smell like a fox… Ah I see… You're a werefox. How interesting… Almost as interesting as Serana next to you." He said indicating the female vampire next to Layla. "I think you will taste quite delicious." He appeared in front of Layla and Serana, holding them both in his mands.

"Piss...Off...You...Monster!" Layla gasped out and spit at the vampire which only caused him to give a feral grin.

"The feisty ones are always the most fun." He said as he pulled Layla in and began lowering his teeth to her neck. Layla squirmed as she tried to get out of his grip but to no avail.

He stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Who dares to lay a hand on me?!" He growled and turned his head to see Blake standing there with a death grip on Movarth's shoulder. Black daedric symbols were spread all about his body and his eyes were now a deep violet.

"Drop. Them. Now." He said his voice deeper and much more threatening than before.

Movarth stared for a second before laughing. "And who's going to make me? I am stronger than you in this form and nothing will change that!" He said before he was thrown across the room, plowing through the massive table in the center.

Layla and Serana landed on their backs as Movarth's grip on them was released when he was thrown across the room. Serana stared at Blake's back in surprise. ' _Where the hell did he get such strength? I've never met any being that can outmatch a Vampire Lord in raw strength. Not even a werewolf could match its strength.'_ Serana thought as she turned her attention to the woman wearing stalhrim armor clutching her left side who was slowly approaching.

"Blake…" She reached out towards him.

"I never wanted to use this. It brings back such painful memories of that day." Blake closed his eyes as he clenched his fists tightly. "I'm afraid of using it but I will not let the people around me suffer because of my fear!" He yelled as darkness swirled around him as Movarth was getting up.

Lydia joined them as Movarth was getting up. She and Elissa pulled Layla and Serana away from the black cocoon that encased Blake. Movarth had finally noticed the darkness encasing Blake and let out a roar of anger before rushing straight at the cocoon. As he reached the cocoon, a giant fist emerged from the shell that smashed right into his face. The force of the punch sent him flying across the cavern again much to his annoyance.

The cocoon shattered revealing a changed Blake. His hair had become as white as Elissa's own hair with two massive horns pointing right to the ceiling jutting from his forehead. His vest was at his feet revealing his enlarged torso. He had grown to at least seven feet tall. His muscles had also been enlarged and it looked like hie could crush and armored man's head with his bare hand. His skin was a light grey and marked onto the back of his hand were two daedric symbols that could be translated to 'CV'.

"W-What is this Elissa?" Lydia asked as she stared in fear at Blake who was opening and closing his hands.

"This is the form that Blake used to destroy his clan." Elissa felt her inner wolf howling at her to run but she wouldn't. She had to know if Blake was in control. "Blake you're still…?"

"Yeah… I am and for once… I'm not having the flashbacks." He turned and grinned revealing dark purple eyes and sharpened teeth. He turned around to see Movarth getting up with blood gushing from his nose.

"You surprised me. That's all." Movarth said as he straightened his nose. "I outclass you!"

In an instant, Blake was in front of the Vampire Lord with his fist cocked back. "Sure about that asshole?" He smirked as the resounding crunch of bone fracturing echoed as his fist slammed into the side Movarth's head sending him reeling.

"You insect!" Movarth yelled and launched a bolt of lightning at Blake. The lightning just seemed to bounce right off his chest. There wasn't even a scorch mark on his chest. "W-W-What are you!?" Movarth backed away as Blake walked towards him, his feet making loud thuds on the ground.

Movarth was his back against the wall as he stared into the purple eyes of Blake. "I am a warrior." Blake responded as he grabbed Movarth and ripped his wing off causing the Vampire Lord to scream out in pain. "I am a Darkstride." He ripped off Movarth's other wing getting another cry as blackened blood flowed down his back.

"Y-You're a monster! A Demon!" Movarth screamed at Blake who didn't even flinch.

"No… The members of my clan were the monsters. From this day forward… The Darkstride clan will no longer raise their blades to spill blood without cause. We will raise our swords to protect." Blake held up Movarth by the neck. Movarth was in too much pain to even struggle. Blake turned his head to look at the group by the entrance. "Please look away. I do not wish for any of you to witness this." Despite Blake's warning, nobody could look away.

Blake looked back at Movarth whose eyes were filled with fear. "P-P-Please let me go. I promise I won't hurt anybody ever again."

Blake shook his head. "No. You would go back to preying on the innocent the minute you knew I wasn't around. This is goodbye." Blake thrust his hand straight through Movarth's chest which came out his back holding his beating black heart. Movarth couldn't even scream as he felt his heart ripped from his chest. Blake closed his eyes and crushed the heart causing blood to explode everywhere. Movarth's body instantly turned to ash, leaving nothing behind but a pair of trousers and boots. Blake's body started to change back to normal as he stared at the ash pile in front of him.

"I never thought someone could beat that form in raw power alone." Serana said as she sat up staring at Blake who was walking back now with his vest in hand.

"You knew that form?" Layla asked as she cautiously watched the vampire.

"I did and I'll be happy to explain later once we-" The sound of a body hitting the gravel cut her off and all four women looked to see Blake laying face first in the ground.

"Blake!" Layla quickly ran over to him and helped him sit up, a weak smirk plastered on his face.

"I showed him…" Blake boasted like a child as he leaned into Layla. ""You may now call me god for my victory over that asshole." Blake then fell unconscious after that.

Lydia turned to Elissa who was chuckling at the unconscious Blake's words. "What is wrong with him?"

"This a combination of him using that form and using too much energy. Normally after using that form for too long, he needs to take a short rest since its power drains his stamina. He must have used a lot of energy to heal the wounds inflicted on him prior to entering that form." Elissa explained as she glanced at Serana who was confused. "Do you understand what I am saying?"

"Yeah I do but… He mentioned a clan called the Darkstrides. Who are they?" Serana asked as she gazed at Blake.

"You don't know who they are?" Lydia asked in disbelief. "They are pretty well known throughout Skyrim."

Serana shook her head. "Prior to this I was locked in a coffin for a long time."

"They came about four hundred years ago." Elissa said as she grabbed the daedric longsword and Blake's katana which had a bunch of knicks on the blade.

Serana raised an eyebrow. "Ok so I've been locked away for more than four hundred years. Who's Skyrim's high king?" She glanced at Layla who was putting Blake's vest back on him.

"That's up for debate right now." Lydia said with an annoyed sigh at the stupid war going on.

"Oh great. A war of succession. Who are the contenders?"

"The Stormcloaks support Ulfric while the Empire supports Elisif." Lydia said as she helped Layla sit Blake up and tilt his head back so he could down a healing potion.

"Empire? What Empire?" Serana asked confused which caused the conscious people to look at her weirdly.

"The Empire from Cyrodiil?" Elissa said as she walked up to Serana.

"Wait Cyrodiil is the seat of an Empire?!" Serana exclaimed and started biting the nail on her thumb deep in thought. "Apparently I've been gone longer than planned."

Elissa was also deep in thought. "So you're saying you were locked inside a coffin prior to the Empire rising?"

"Yes why?" Serana snapped a bit annoyed at being asked for information that was already present.

"If what you're saying is true… You're over four thousand years old." Elissa said as she did the math in her head.

Serana stared at Elissa with her jaw hanging open. "N-No way…"

A groan got their attention as Blake regained consciousness. "Ugh… Feels like I got run over by a carriage. The hell happened while I was out?" Blake rubbed the back of his head and cracked his back.

"Oh not much. Just that we're standing in the presence of a vampire that's over four thousand years old." Layla explained in a calm voice.

"Oh that's nice. I'm going back to sleep." Blake said as he closed his eyes and laid on his back. A few seconds passed by before his eyes opened wide and he sat up, nearly slamming his head into Lydia's nose. "Wait what?!" He yelled as his eyes went to Serana who gave a shy smile and a wave. "Alduin has returned and brought with him a four thousand year old vampire… This month can't possibly get any worse."

"Actually it can… Let me get the Elder Scroll that was with me and I'll explain everything." Serana said as she walked around the mess that had been caused by the fighting. She disappeared down a passageway carved into the rock.

"This is going to a fucking pain isn't it." Blake muttered as he leaned against Layla from his lack of energy.

"It could be worse. Remember that trip we took Hammerfall?" Elissa said smirking causing Blake to groan.

"We agreed to never talk about that trip ever again." Blake muttered as he stood up with the help of Layla.

A few minutes later, Serana came back carrying an Elder Scroll on her back. "Ok I'm ready. Let's go before more show up." Serana said as she secured the scroll to her back.

"I doubt any more will show up not with me and Blake's mother sitting guard outside." Elissa smiled and helped Layla carry Blake through the caverns.

"What? Is your mother some kind of legendary warrior that came around in the past four thousand years?" Serana asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lydia chuckled at this. "Oh you're in for a surprise."

 **Outside**

Outside it was absolute chaos. There was fire and ice everywhere. There were burnt and frozen corpses of at least two dozen dead vampires. Vurvoanai was nowhere to be found amongst all this.

"Your mother must be one hell of a wizard to pull this off. I'd love to learn from her." Serana said as she looked at the charred corpse of a vampire. Even the sword on the body was melted to a puddle of whatever metal it was made of.

"She's no wizard." Elissa said with a laugh as a roar echoed from above them and they all turned their heads to see Vurvoanai looking down on them with a pleased look on her face. "Did you have to go overboard with the breath attacks mother?"

Serana's jaw dropped as she stared at the massive dragon above her. This was their mother?! A dragon?! Serana 's gaze met the dragon's gaze causing the female dragon to growl.

"Vampire…" Vurvoanai growled as she snapped her jaws.

"Relax mom. She's not here to hurt us. We found her about to be used as a breeding pig for other vampires." Blake explained as he sat on the ground.

"He's telling you the truth. She has no qualms about harming any of us." Layla said causing Vurvoanai's gaze to shift to Layla.

Vurvoanai sighed. "I trust your judgement Dovahkiin." Vurvoanai swiveled her head back to Serana. "If you feed off of anybody from this group or turn them into vampires without their consent, you will become like one of the vampire's laying at your feet." Vurvoanai growled as she slid off the top of the cave entrance. "Now can someone explain to me why Blake looks like he went through Elissa's training regiment again?"

"He unleashed his inner beast." Elissa explained placing a hand on her brother's shoulder. "He has finally let go of his past." A proud smile was on her face as she looked at her brother. "Now he just needs to build his stamina so that he can maintain the form longer."

Serana cleared her throat to get everybody's attention. Everybody looked at her as she held the Elder Scroll in her hands. "I believe I owe you all explanations." She said.

"Is that a… Is that what I think it is?" Vurvoanai stared at the scroll in Serana's hands.

"Yes it is and it's mine. I need to explain to all of you why I have it and why I was sealed for four thousand years." The group looked at each other. "

"Alright. Let's find a good place to make camp for the day. We can't exactly be subtle in a tavern." Layla said as she helped Blake up off the ground. All of them started walking in the direction out of the marshland towards somewhere more suitable to make camp.

A few hours after the group had departed, two figures arrived at Movarth's cave to see the dozens of dead vampires strewn about the front of the cave. Both of them were male, one being a nord with a black shirt, grey trousers, and grey boots. He had short spiky black hair. On his left hip were two katanas that both vibrated with energy. He had some stubble on his chin and his eyes were covered by a blindfold. "Guess we missed the party?" He said in a joking voice. "Think that little princess did this?" He joked with a grin turning to his partner, to reveal two elongated fangs.

His partner was a vampiric orc with deep red eyes and grey white hair. He had a two handed steel sword on his back while wearing steel armor. "Be mindful of your tongue! That is Lord Harkon's daughter you're talking about even if she is a little rat." The orc grunted with a scowl. "But no. This doesn't look like her. I doubt her magic could have charred the corpses this bad and even melt the weapons. I don't even see traces of necromancy which I know she is very found of."

They walked into the cave, the blindfolded man seemed to have no trouble navigating the cake despite being unable to see with his eyes. The blindfolded man whistled as they reached the main cavern. "Man this placed got messed up." He said as he spun around almost as if he could see everything.

The orc vampire was checking out an ash pile with two massive wings laying next to the pile. "This was Movarth. His stench is all over this pile and judging by the wings lay next to the pile, he was in his Vampire Lord form." The orc was confused at this. "Yet it looks like his wings were brutally ripped off but by what?" He stood up looking at his partner who wore a massive grin on his face. "What?"

"I can feel the energy of the Darkstrides… I only know of one Darkstride who could probably overpower a Vampire Lord." His grin grew wider. "I haven't seen the damn brat for fifteen year and if I'm right… Lord Harkon's daughter and Elder Scroll are with Blake Darkstride… My precious little nephew." He said as tendrils of darkness sprung from his back all whipping around in excitement at a fight.

 **Yep… I went there.**


	7. Chapter 7

It was approaching night as the group sat around a campfire with Vurvoanai curled around them to protect them from the wind, while resting her head next to Blake. They had found a secluded spot off the path so that they wouldn't draw too much attention. There had been an awkward silence around them as they traveled and Serana had yet to tell them what she was doing locked away for four thousand years.

Elissa cleared her throat and let her gaze travel to Serana who stared at the fire, watching the wood burn. "I believe you said you would explain why you were locked away with that Elder Scroll?" Elissa gestured towards the Elder Scroll laying next to Serana's feet.

Serana let out a sigh. "I was locked away with the Elder Scroll to keep it safe. It contains some prophecy that my father had become obsessed with so long ago. It… Changed him. Made him more insane than he already was." Serana paused to take a deep breath before continuing. "The prophecy was vague but the message was clear. Vampires wouldn't need to fear the sun ever again because somehow it would be blocked out."

"That's so…" Lydia began only to be finished by Blake.

"Stupid and asinine." Blake finished for her. "Block out the sun? Are you kidding me? Did your father think about what would happen should the sun be blocked out? The sun goes out, all vegetation dies. Vegetation dies, animals die. Animals and vegetation die, humans die from lack of food. Humans die, no blood for vampires." Blake said as growled in anger at the fact that Serana's father couldn't even realize what would happen should the sun be blocked out."

"He is correct." Vurvoanai said as kept the fire going with a small breath of fire. "Even the dragon's would die out because there would be no food for us to survive off of. Everything would end."

Layla looked at Serana. "How has your father not realized this? I mean it's clearly obvious."

Serana simply shrugged as she looked at the Elder Scroll with a scowl. "I don't know. All I know is that this stupid prophecy has driven my family apart since we became vampires."

"Speaking of which, how did you and your family become vampires anyway?" Elissa asked as she sharpened her rapier. "You didn't seem to be affected by the sun that much when we were traveling."

"I'm a pure blooded vampire." Serana explained. "The sun doesn't affect me as much as it would affect another vampire." Her face became downcast and tears began running down her face. "I never wanted to be a vampire you know… I just wanted to live my life as a normal human. Live my life, fall in love, have a few kids, maybe even run my own alchemy shop."

Serana felt someone hug her and she turned her head to see Layla had moved closer and pulled her into a hug. "You don't have to talk about this if you don't want to. We all have things we want to bury in the past."

Serana nodded with a genuine smile forming on her face. "Thank you. Now can _you_ explain why you smell like a fox?" Layla blushed deeply and let go of Serana.

"W-Well you see… J-Just like there are Werewolfs, there are other forms of transformations. I can turn into a giant fox but until recently I couldn't control my transformation." Layla explained with a slight stutter as she looked over at Blake, expecting to see some kind of negative reaction. She was surprised when she saw him trying and failing to hold back a smile.

"So you had trouble controlling your transformations as well? Looks like I'm not the only one." Blake said his smile turning into his signature smirk. All eyes turned to him. "What? When my sister was trying to teach me how to transform at will and hold back my inner beast I had trouble." Blake confessed rubbing the back of his head.

"It's true. We used to find him in his transformed state in the morning. We went through a lot of beds." Elissa said with a smile.

"So we have five beings here who are immensely powerful… I feel left out here." Lydia said in a joking manner.

"Don't you remember? You're part horker." Blake said a smirk only to receive a snowball in the face from Lydia who looked pissed off.

"I am not a horker!" Lydia yelled as she threw more snow at Blake. Everybody was laughing, the awkward and tense atmosphere now gone. The laughter and jokes went on for a few minutes before Blake went stiff, his eyes darting around frantically.

Serana was the first to notice this. "Hey what's with the alarmed reaction? We're in a secluded part of the woods with a dragon covering us. What's got you worked up?"

Blake said nothing as he stood up his hand on his sword. Elissa and Layla's instincts were going off and trying to tell them to run away. Everybody was silent as they listened to the silence that had spread throughout the forest. Even the night animals had become quiet.

"MOVE!" Blake yelled as the fire was pierced from underneath by a shadow. Everybody jumped away from the fire while Vurvoanai breathed a large torrent of fire at the shadow causing it to shrink away.

"What the hell was that?!" Serana yelled as she lit her hands with fire and lightning magic. Her amber eyes darting around the forest. Elissa stood at her back, her rapier pointed outwards while she scanned the forest.

"Blake is some kind of joke you're playing on us?!" Layla yelled as she stood back to back with Lydia, her bow out and an arrow ready to fire. Lydia had drawn her steel sword and shield while she stood back to back with Layla.

"That wasn't me! I can't do something like that yet!" Blake said his voice filled with fear.

"You missed them." A voice said from a branch above them. An orcish vampire landed on the ground in front of the group. "I thought you were one of the best?" His eyes remained locked onto the group as he spoke to his unseen partner.

"Now where's the fun in that? I'm hungry and I think these girls would make a lovely meal." A man stepped out from behind the trees making Blake's blood run cold and his hands shake from fear. "Hello dear nephew. Been awhile. Look how you've grown." The man said with a grin.

"U-U-Uncle Dante." Blake managed to get out, his body now visibly shaking. "H-How? I-I-I killed you that night!"

Dante's grin grew as he removed the blindfold from his eyes to reveal blood red eyes. The whites of his eyes were a deep black. "You forget kid, I was the best in our clan. Your transformation did would me deeply but I was a vampire when I killed your mother and father!" He laughed as Blake no longer shook from fear but now from anger. "Ah and I defiled your mother's corpse after I healed. God I wish she was alive to be here for this little reunion." His grin became wicked as he reached for one of the Katana's on his hip. "You'll be seeing her quite soon." He drew his sword and blocked Blake. "Durzum take care of the others but leave one of the women alive for me!" He laughed maniacally as he blocked another sword strike from Blake.

Blake was sent flying deeper into the forest from a kick to the chest courtesy of Dante who darted after him.

Durzum turned to the women and dragon with a grin that made them feel sick to their stomachs. He raised a hand and across the forest, gargoyles appeared from various portals. "Come quietly Serana or your little friends suffer." He said as he drew his sword, the malicious grin still on his face.

Durzum ducked as a tree was sent flying his way, crashing into a few gargoyles behind him. He looked up to see smoke coming from Vurvoanai's nostrils. "You think your little army will be able to beat us? You are as much of a fool as your master is." Flames came out of her nostrils and she let loose a torrent of flames.

Layla let loose arrow after arrow into each gargoyle she saw while Serana summoned a few storm atronachs while firing ice spikes and lightning bolts into the gargoyles. "Aim for their heads and abdomens! That's where they're weakest!" Serana yelled as she blasted a gargoyle into pieces with lightning.

Lydia and Elissa were in front of them, keeping the stone creatures back as they tried to advance. Elissa was easily able to dodge and weave through all of the gargoyles attacks with ease while Lydia used her shield and sword to block and deflect incoming attacks from the gargoyles. Vurvoanai was ripping trees out of the ground with her tail and throwing them right into the ranks of the gargoyles.

Durzum all the while stood there leaning on the hilt of his sword which at some point he had stabbed into the ground and was just watching in amusement. Once the last gargoyle had been dispatched, he simply grinned once more. "Don't think you're done quite yet! I still have surprise for you!" He called out as the gargoyle body's began to break apart into dust and begin to pile up behind him.

The dust fused together with some form of magic to create a massive gargoyle the size of Vurvoanai. Durzum looked up at the gargoyle, "Take care of the overgrown lizard. I can handle the others." The gargoyle roared and slammed right into Vurvoanai. Both of them went tumbling down the hillside, crashing through trees as they did. "Now that the dragon is out of the way…" He caught an arrow inches from his face without even flinching. "Now I can kill you three and take Serana and the Elder Scroll back to Lord Harkon." Durzum hefted his two handed sword over his right shoulder as he stared at the four women in front of him.

Elissa and Lydia rushed forward towards Durzum while Layla and Serana continued to support them from behind with arrows and magical attacks. Lydia got to him first before Elissa could. She easily ducked underneath the massive sword that was swung at her neck. However when she brought up her shield to block a punch from Durzum, his fist went right through her shield like it was an arrow going through paper. His fist connected with her steel chest piece and sent her flying back unconscious into the base of a tree. Her chest piece had a massive dent shaped like a fist in the center.

"Lydia!" Layla screamed and started firing more arrows at Durzum who in addition to the arrows and ice spikes, was now dodging the sharp point of Elissa's rapier. Durzum kicked Elissa away as he hefted his sword over his shoulder.

"You're all weak. I think the Darkstride boy would have been more of a challenge. Though I'm pretty sure his uncle is going to kill him so I won't have any fun with him." Durzum grinned and started transforming into a Vampire Lord. His two handed sword still resting on his shoulder as he transformed. "I need to do this quick otherwise I'll miss the fun. Killing the dragon and the Darkstride."

Elissa glanced at Layla who stood there in fear but she wasn't looking right at Durzum. No she was looking in the direction of where Blake had been sent flying. "Layla he will be fine until we can help. We need to take this vampire down quickly. We need to shift as well. It's the only we we'll be able to win." Elissa said getting a nod from Layla. Both of them shifted into their beast forms which surprised Serana at how beautiful they both looked.

' _These aren't ordinary transformations. Werewolves are usually black in color but Elissa's fur is white. Likewise with Layla. Foxes only have one tail so why does she have three? So many questions but I need to help.'_ Serana thought and took a deep breath. "Ok it's been a long time since I've done this but…" Serana's body began to shift as well. She became a Vampire Lord just like Durzum had done but the difference was that her body was smaller and thinner than his. There were also two elven daggers strapped to her thighs.

Elissa and Layla looked at her with confused expressions causing Serana to sigh. "I'll explain later." She said in a deep voice. "Right now we need to take him out." She drew both daggers and helped them in a reverse grip.

Elissa and Layla ran towards Durzum who swung his sword at them. They body dodged to the side as the sword came down on them. Elissa wasted no time sinking her fangs into Durzum's sword arm. Durzum tried to pry Elissa's jaw open but had little effect. With his attention diverted, Layla was able to jump onto his back and started clawing his back, sinking her teeth into his left shoulder as she did. Serana ran forward and started slashing at Durzum with her daggers. Durzum raised his left arm to keep her from hitting.

Finally having enough of being pinned down, Durzum grabbed Serana's arm after she missed one of her swings and brought her in close before headbutting her. Serana stumbled back in a daze giving him enough time to grab Layla by the scruff of her neck and pry her off his back. He threw her away from him. He then focused his attention on Elissa and slammed his fist into the top of her head causing her to open her jaw slightly. Durzum pried her mouth open and removed his arm before grabbing Elissa from behind and performed a suplex on her.

Layla rushed him before he could harm Elissa even further. She slashed him across the chest with her claws causing deep gashes across his chest. He growled and smashed his arm into Layla causing her to land next to Elissa. Two elven daggers along with two bolts of lightning struck him the chest causing him to backpedal.

Durzum ripped the two daggers out of his chest and fell to one knee. Meanwhile, Serana helped Layla and Elissa up. They stood in front of him, Serana with a bloody nose, Elissa having lost her wolf form held her left arm which looked to be dislocated, and Layla having a small gash on the side of her head. They were about to attack him again when a massive body slammed into them and knocked them over. The body being Blake who had transformed at some point during his fight with Dante.

Blake had deep gashes cross his chest and cuts all across his body. His sword was missing at least half of its blade and had a number of chips in what remained of the blade. A figure came out of the treeline and stopped next to Durzum. The figure had a long black cloak that trailed behind him and a mask that covered the bottom of his face. In his right hand was the handle of a massive scythe with a glowing red blade. "Durzum you couldn't even handle these three? You're losing your touch." He shook his head as Durzum stood up with his sword in hand.

"Shut up. I see you're finally living up to your moniker. 'The Reaper Among Darkstrides' has finally made his appearance again has he?" Durzum said with a chuckle as Dante glared at him and before turning to Blake who was standing up holding the remains of his sword out in front of him. Blake had returned to normal no longer having the energy to stay transformed. "What couldn't kill him? I'll do it myself!"

"Durzum wait!" Dante yelled but it was too late. Durzum and Blake were already charging at each other. Blake managed to parry Durzum's downward swing but Durzum punched Blake in the face. Before Blake could even recover Durzum had knocked Blake's sword out of his hand.

Durzum grinned as he brought up his sword to deliver the final strike. "Time to die Darkstride." He brought his sword down on Blake who had closed his eyes waiting for his death.

"WULD!" A shout was heard and Layla appeared in front of Blake, Durzum's sword slicing from her left shoulder to her right hip. Layla let out a scream of pain causing Blake's eyes to snap open.

"LAYLA!" Blake screamed as Layla fell back into his arms bleeding badly from her chest wound. "Don't you die! You can't die!" Blake yelled as tears began to stream down his face and fall onto her face.

Serana and Elissa watched from where they lay in shock and horror. While for some reason, Dante stood there shock evident on his face but a fire raged in his red eyes. Durzum on the other hand, was grinning and laughing. "Aww so you're little girlfriend decided to die in your place? Not like it'll matter much. You'll be joining her shortly but right now I want you to watch her die in your arms." He said as he watched Layla's blood stain the snow.

Blake fell to his knees with Layla's head in his lap. Layla stared up at him with a sad but content smile on her face. "Blake… Please don't cry. I'm… Happy. For once I was able… To protect you." She struggled to get out a blood flowed from the corner of her mouth. "I… Hated how you always had to protect me. I felt like a burden to you because…" She took a deep breath. "You were always stronger than me. That strength… You possess... Gave me the strength to get stronger." Tears were rolling down her cheeks now. "I wanted to… To be by your side forever. Even if our time together was brief… I developed… Feelings for you. Feelings that go beyond friendship." Despite her wound, she reached up and placed a hand on Blake's cheek. "I… Love you Blake. I… Hope we can meet again…" She said as she closed her eyes and her heartbeat became weak but it was still there.

"Layla…" Blake had no words to say after that. She had confessed her feelings to him instead of using that strength to stay alive. She had taken a blow that was meant for him… A blow caused by the vampire bastard standing in front of them laughing at Layla's words and sacrifice. It made him feel so enraged.

Power exploded from Blake as he let out an emotional cry of pain and for a brief moment, his body took on a spectral image of his beast form with some added changes that nobody was able to distinguish before the power faded. There was one person who had been able to clearly see that spectral image and that had been Dante. The second sword on his hip was glowing a bright blue.

Dante let out a sigh and walked up to his partner. "Durzum…" Dante said as he looked at his partner.

"Oh you want to kill the brat Dante? Go right ahead." Durzum said as he looked back at his partner.

Dante shook his head. "No I don't want his death." Durzum cocked his head to the side as he started strangely at his partner. Before he could even ask what he wanted then, the blade of Dante's scythe sliced right down the middle of Durzum's body.

"Wha…" Durzum managed to get out before his body split into two and began turning into ash, mixing with the snow.

"I want your death for causing my precious nephew such emotional pain!" Dante screamed in rage as he spit on the ashes of his former partner. He pulled multiple healing potions from the pouch on his side and threw them to Serana and Elissa who stared at the potions warily. "The fuck are you doing!? You want to save the girl?! Then hurry the fuck up and drink those! We need to heal her quickly. It's faint but her heart is still beating." Dante said as his form dissipated and he pulled out multiple rolls of bandages. Kneeling next to Layla, he handed a potion to Blake who was staring at him in confusion, anger, and surprise. "I will answer your questions later. Right now we need to stop the bleeding and that healing potion will help keep her alive until we get somewhere we can heal her properly."

Blake hesitantly took the potion and looked down at Layla. His main focus was her right now so he had to stop trying to analyze the situation so that he could save her. Blake uncorked the bottle and drank some of the potion but didn't swallow it. Instead he placed his lips on Layla's and pushed the healing liquid into her mouth while tilting her head back so she could swallow it without choking. Dante was busy stripping her armor off and wrapping bandages around her body.

Vurvoanai came lumbering back into the clearing where everybody else was. There were multiple gashes across her underbelly and sides with one of her wings slightly torn but not to the point where she couldn't fly. She almost incinerated Dante as soon as she saw the shape Blake was in and the deteriorating shape Layla was in. Elissa was trying to keep her mother from killing Dante since he was helping them. Though she promised her mother that if he tried anything to endanger them, Vurvoanai could kill him.

Meanwhile Serana had Lydia thrown over her shoulder and was staring at Blake as he helped his uncle try and keep Layla stable. Thinking about Layla and her confession to Blake made Serana feel annoyed and jealous that Layla had done so. She couldn't exactly understand why she felt this way but she just did. It confused her because she had never felt like this before.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Blake running over to Vurvoanai with Layla on his back. "Mother! We need to get to Whiterun as fast as possible!" He yelled in concern. Serana listened closely to Layla's heartbeat and found it weak but stable but for how long.

Vurvoanai looked at Blake and then Layla before lying down so Blake could get on. "If we need to get there as quickly as possible, I can only carry you two. The rest of you need to travel on foot." As she gazed at Elissa, Serana, and the unconscious Lydia slung over Serana's shoulder. Her gaze landed on Dante and she growled. "As for you, if you cause any harm to anybody I will hunt you down forever until I finally kill you. I do not know where your allegiances lie but I will find out. If I don't like what you say, I will end you." She took off in the direction of Whiterun as quickly as she could.

Serana and Elissa watched her go before turning to Dante who was standing there with a bottle of mead in his hand. "Don't worry. I only worked with the vampires for information. I may be a vampire but I'm still a Darkstride to the very end. I hated having to do what I did."

"Then why didn't you stop your partner from trying to kill Blake?" Elissa said with a glare which Dante shrugged off.

"The girl beat me to it. She used that damn magic power that made her move super fast. I was about to cut him down right when she appeared in front of Durzum. I had it all planned out but it fell apart." Dante said with an annoyed sigh as he finished his mead and threw the bottle into the snow. "My aim was to incapacitate you all so I could explain everything but Durzum…" He glared at the scattering ash pile. "Was trying to kill you all."

"I'm sure my little brother will want to hear everything but just know that I'm watching you." Elissa growled at Dante.

Serana sighed. "Can we go? Lydia weighs a ton and her armor isn't making her any lighter."

"Blake… Shut… Up… I am not a horker..." Lydia muttered and let out a snore.

"Huh… Even in her dreams she still bickers with Blake." Elissa snickered and they started their long trek to Whiterun, hopefully getting good news that Layla would be ok.

 **Outside Whiterun**

Vurvoanai landed in front of the path that led up to Whiterun making all the guards get ready to fire arrows until they saw Blake jump off her back carrying Layla. "HOLD YOUR FIRE AND MAKE WAY! I HAVE CRITICALLY WOUNDED!" He yelled making all the guards lower their bows but kept the arrows notched and ready to fire. Blake sprinted up the path past a surprised Irileth who glanced at him and then at the dragon.

Irileth walked hesitantly towards the dragon. "You're friendly right?" She asked nervously as Vurvoanai eyed her up and down.

"As long as your soldiers don't fire at me then I won't attack. If it is ok with you, I wish to remain here while I wait. Layla, the dragonborn in your tongue, was critically injured in a fight and I wish to know as soon as possible if she will heal." Vurvoanai said causing Irileth to stiffen at hearing Layla being injured.

She faced the guards all lined up on the walls. "Lay down your weapons! This dragon is allied to Thane Layla! She is to be treated with respect lest we face an enraged Darkstride and Dragonborn!" Irileth commanded making the guards return to their posts only slightly less wary of the massive dragon at their gates.

 **Temple of Kynareth**

Blake kicked open the door to the normally quiet temple causing Danica Pure-Springs to glare at him and prepare to scold him for disrupting the peace. That was, until she got a look at Layla on his back. "I would berate you for being loud and disrupting the peace but I don't think we have time for that. Lay her on the healing bed." Danica said in a calm voice. Blake obeyed and laid Layla down getting a small whimper from the young woman. "Please leave so that I may concentrate on healing her." Blake hesitantly nodded and went outside to meditate and calm himself while they worked to save her. Danica called over two of her assistants to help. One to get rags and a buck of cold water to slow the blood flow and the other to help strip Layla's remaining gear off of her.

Blake sat in a meditative position right next to the door. He closed his eyes trying to calm himself down as he attempted to clear his mind but failed as Layla's words kept ringing in his head with the image of her smile accompanying the words. His breathing started to pick up as he saw her blood stain the snow with Durzum standing over them laughing. The gut wrenching images faded away and were replaced by Layla's bright smile and playful jabs at him in Riverwood. A smile graced his lips and he drifted into a deep sleep thinking of Layla.

A few hours later, Blake awoke to someone gently shaking him awake. His eyes snapped open to see Danica kneeling in front of him with a smile on her face. There was blood stained on her robes. "Is she…?"

Danica smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She is ok. We were able to close the wound before she lost any more blood or it became infected. The Jarl had her moved up to Dragonsreach where she could recover comfortably." She stood up as Blake let out a sigh of relief. "You should go see Jarl Balgruuf. He'll want to talk to you." Danica said as she walked back inside to clean up.

Blake rushed up the steps that led to Dragonsreach. A few of the guards looked at him quizzically as he ran into Dragonsreach. He spotted Balgruuf arguing with Proventus. Balgruuf looked over to see Blake standing there out of breath. "Ah. There you are. You probably want to know where Layla is." The Jarl of Whiterun said. Blake nodded his head quickly. Balgruuf chuckled. "I had her placed in my room. Danica told me that her wound was bad. If whatever blade had gone even the least bit deeper, it would have pierced her heart. I won't pry for now on what happened. You look like you came out of a war. Go wash up and get some food in you. You need anything just let one of the maids know." Balgruuf said as he and Proventus went back to arguing whatever they were arguing about.

Blake went upstairs, getting directions from the guards as to where Balgruuf's room was. He came upon Balgruuf's room. As he opened the door, he found Layla sitting up in bed with Jarl Balgruuf's daughter sitting in her lap while the two boys were on both sides. She was reading some book about a sleeping princess.

Layla didn't seem to notice his presence and continued on reading. "Prince Philip made his way up the tower after slaying the dragon Maleficent. He was tired and beaten but he pushed on to see his sleeping princess. He opened the door to find the woman he loved in a deep and peaceful sleep. He placed his lips upon hers causing her eyes to flutter open, a smile gracing her lips as she stared up at the man she loved. They later married and lived happily ever after. The End." She finished and closed the book. She looked up from her spot to see Blake standing in the doorway trying to hide a grin. "Ok you three. Time for bed." She got groans of protest from the three children. "Now now. You three need your sleep and I promise to read you another story tomorrow. Now time for bed." All three children groaned but listened as they trudged off to bed.

The one boy, Frothar, stopped in front of Blake and tried to give him a menacing glare. "Don't touch lady Layla. She's going to be my wife one day and no man will still her from me." He said as he puffed out his chest.

Blake patted the young boy's head. "Yeah good luck to you runt. Tell you what… When that happens, I'll teach you how to fight like a Darkstride." Blake said in a joking tone causing Frothar to run off after his brother and sister claiming that he was going to be trained to fight like a Darkstride.

Blake watched the boy go and after a minute, he closed the door locking it securely behind him. Blake turned around to see Layla staring down at her hands in her lap. She was wearing a pure white nightgown that hugged her curves nicely while her hair fell loosely around her shoulders. Blake grabbed a chair from the nearby table and sat it next to the bed. He sat in the chair as he waited for Layla to say something. She said nothing as she continued to stare at her hands. Blake sighed and took the hand closest to her and squeezed it. "You're a reckless idiot."

Layla looked up at him in surprise as he took her hand but said nothing. Blake continued on anyway. "You just rushed in without thinking and took that sword for me without even thinking of the consequences. If you died, Alduin would destroy the entire world. I would die eventually from Alduin. You're the only one that can kill him. I may be powerful in my own right but only the Dragonborn can kill him. Also if you died… I don't know what I would do. I would probably go back to my home and watch as the world fell apart. I would be too devastated to do anything to save it." Blake said as he ran his free hand through his hair. "Nobody should have to sacrifice their life just to save my ass. I'm not worth it."

*SLAP!*

The slap echoed throughout the room as Layla lowered her hand and glared at Blake. His cheek was red from where Layla had slapped him and he touched it feeling it sting. "Do not act like you're not worth anything. Think about what would have happened if you were dead!? Sure I would still be alive to beat Alduin but what would I do if I didn't have…" Layla trailed off as she realized where she was going.

"The man you loved?" Blake finished for her causing her eyes to go wide and a blush to adorn her face.

"Y-Yeah…" She said looking away. "I would defeat Alduin, the world would be saved but life would no longer have any meaning for me if you weren't there with me. I wouldn't have any purpose and would just end up killing myself because of the void in my chest." Blake's hand squeezed hers as she explained what would happen. "I don't want to live this life feeling like that. Every life is precious and not to be wasted.

Blake said nothing as he rotated Layla's head to face him causing Layla to look at him in confusion. "Blake what are you… MPH…!" Layla was cut off when Blake pushed his lips against her causing her eyes to widen. She melted into the kiss and closed her eyes as she felt Blake's tongue seeking entrance into her mouth.

Before she could give him access, a whistle was heard from the doorway. Both of them quickly broke from the kiss and turned their heads to see Elissa and Dante standing in the doorway. Elissa was facepalming while Dante was grinning like a madman. "My nephew bagged one foxy lady! I'm so proud of hi-" Before Dante could finish that sentence the door slammed in his face thanks to Blake's shadows closing the door.

Blake turned back to Layla with a smirk on his face. "Where were we?" Blake said as he kissed her again with more ferocity. Layla purred and moaned into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck.


	8. Chapter 8

Layla, Blake, Elissa, Dante, and Serana were all sitting in Layla's new house which was named Breezehome. Jarl Balgruuf had been generous and given her the home for free since there was no other place that she could really be moved to that was safe for her to recover. Lydia was recovering in her new room from a broken leg, a broken arm, and a few cracked ribs. Layla was sitting in her bed with her hand holding tightly onto Blake's hand. She knew the minute that she let go of Blake's hand would be the moment he went for Dante's throat.

Everybody's eyes were on Dante as he finished what was his third bottle of mead. He looked around the room at everybody. "I should probably explain why I killed my partner and helped you all last second." Dante sighed as Blake's glare intensified. "My objective was to incapacitate you to the point where I could talk to you all without you trying to kill me. Durzum was supposed to weaken everybody while I weakened Blake because out of all of you, he would be the one that I would have trouble getting to listen." He said as he eyed his nephew.

"Why would Blake not listen to you? I mean you are family." Serana looked between both Darkstrides as tension began to strengthen between them.

"He's the reason I went on a rampage that night. He killed my father right in front of me while he tried to save my mother." Blake growled as his anger rose but Layla squeezed his hand to calm him down. "It was his fault everybody died that night."

Elissa looked at Dante who had a sad and pained expression in his eyes and she could tell that what Blake said hurt him deeply. "Blake… I think there's a reason you saw what you saw." Blake looked at his sister wide eyed and tried to snap back that she was wrong but she cut him off. "There are always two sides to the story. We know your side but not his so let's hear him out ok?" Blake let out a huff of annoyance but stayed quiet.

Dante gave Elissa a grateful look and a nod before clearing his throat and meeting his nephew's eyes. "I didn't kill your mother. That was your father's doing." Dante saw a look of disbelief in Blake's eyes. "I know it's hard to believe but hear me out. What I said to you back in the forest were lies. I was trying to get you angry so that you would use more of your energy and stamina and become tired. I never actually did any of that stuff to your mother."

Blake stared at his uncle for a few moments, seeing the heartache in his eyes caused him to realize that his uncle hated what he had to say. "If you didn't kill her or defile her in any way then why was she bleeding while you and my father fought?" Blake asked as he squeezed Layla's hand to give himself reassurance.

"Your father was a bastard. He was secretly looking for a way to obtain power so he could take over Skyrim. He found Harkon and Harkon agreed to turn him. But just like the deal made with Clavicus Vile, there was a price. Harkon saw our clan as a threat to his plans and the prophecy he is trying to complete. He wanted us out of the way so he could move around more freely." Dante gritted his teeth and clenched his hands tightly.

Blake stared at his uncle in shock as he processed this information. He clenched his fists and grit his teeth in anger at this. "

"So my father wanted you all gone so he could search more freely for me and my mother?" Serana asked as she stared at Dante with a horrified expression. "He committed genocide against an entire clan just for this stupid prophecy?" She looked at Blake with sad eyes. "Blake I'm sorry for what my father has done to you… both of you." She said her eyes drifting towards Dante who gave small nod.

"How do you know all this?" Layla said rested her head on Blake's shoulder.

Dante grinned. "That idiot Harkon doesn't even know that some of his court are aware of what happens when the sun is blocked out! Vingalmo is is the one who has helped me gather information on what Harkon is doing. Apparently in the four thousand years you were gone, he has devoted most of his time to searching for you and increasing the number of vampires that are under his command."

"How many vampires does he have under his command?" Serana crossed her arms over her chest as she gazed at Dante.

"Over three thousand soldiers with a third of those being Vampire Lords." Dante said grimly.

"Oh fucking great. There are three hundred more of those things? We couldn't even take down Durzum without your help!" Elissa exclaimed and sank into her chair with her face in her hands. "Even if the two armies worked together there's no way they could even defeat that kind of force."

"There is still the chance that we can win. From what Vingalmo has told me, most of his forces are on islands north of his castle and it would take a few days for his forces to get here by boat." Dante continued on. "He only has maybe a few more Vampire Lords excluding the ones that we recently disposed of. He has multiple nests of vampires scattered throughout the land."

"It sounds like you have a plan to counter this?" Blake asked as he pulled Layla close to him.

"We find whatever it is Harkon is looking for and destroy it. The answer to what we need is in that Elder Scroll Serana has." Dante pointed at the Elder Scroll leaning against the wall.

"None of us know how to use it properly thought. How do we get past that little blockade?" Layla asked. "Who knows what could happen should we use it wrong? We could turn to ash if we make a mistake."

"Thankfully I've already been working on that issue. There's an imperial scholar that arrived in skyrim a few weeks. Apparently he's a Moth Priest. They know how to counteract the effects of an Elder Scroll." Dante said with a smirk that looked extremely similar to Blake's smirk. "I was actually tasked with tracking him down and bringing him to Harkon after we got your Elder Scroll. He's in Haafingar near Dragon's Bridge last time I checked."

"Even so. We're going to need a place for him to hide. We very well can't keep him in Whiterun with us or the Darkstride land. That's where they would look for him." Elissa looked to Dante who nodded. "I have heard rumors of the Dawnguard reforming over in that abandoned fort behind Riften. Maybe go there and make some kind of deal with them?" Elissa suggested getting a nod from everybody. "Though that will have to wait seeing as how we all need to rest and repair our equipment."

Dante clapped his hands together startling everybody. "Ah that's right. Blake you need a new sword. The one you were using isn't the right sword." Everybody looked at him like he was crazy except for Blake who looked confused.

"Right sword? What do you mean by that? My husband forged the sword specifically for him." Elissa said with confusion. "Made from a combination of moonstone and steel. We even added some of Blake's blood to the hot Blade like it said in the archives."

"Wait adding blood to the weapon? What point does that serve?" Serana asked as she looked at Blake's broken sword which was laying next to the Elder Scroll.

"When a Darkstride forges his or her sword, the blade becomes bonded to them and will not break unless he or she dies. It's tied to their life force till the end of their life." Elissa explained getting a nod from Dante.

"But Blake's sword was broken in half. That shouldn't have happened even if he was fighting a stronger opponent right?" Layla said as she reached down and picked up Blake's sword, running her fingers along what remained of the blade.

"Normally this wouldn't happen. However that sword is the sword Blake is bonded to." Dante said as he picked up the second katana and sheath that was with him. The sheath of the sword was pitch black with two dragons coiling around the sheath and each other, embroidered in a bright sparkling blue that seemed to glow. The hilt of the sword was wrapped in black leather with a small bit hanging off the edge of the end. "This is Blake's true sword. Forged for him by his mother when he was but a newborn." Dante explained as he stared down at the blade in his hands with a look of nostalgia on his face. He walked over to Blake and held out the sword for him. "Here. It belongs to you. I'm sorry that you didn't receive when you started training. Your mother's dying wishes were that you received it one day."

Blake reached out and carefully took the sword from his uncle. He ran his fingers along the dragons embroidered into its sheath. He looked back up at his uncle who had a bright smile on his face. "Why did my mother…"

"Make that for you instead of have you make it yourself when you came of age? Her reasoning was that she wanted to craft a sword that would be able to handle your power. Apparently she saw the immense power within you even at a young age." Dante and everybody else watched as Blake pulled the blade from its sheath to reveal a bright blue blade that thrummed with energy. The metal looked to be exactly like ice and gave off an air of power with it. "It was made with Stalhrim. Your mother obtained some when she took a job out in Solstheim to deal with a group of organized bandits. She was paid in this material and taught how to forge it properly."

Blake stared at his blade, feeling a connection with the weapon he hadn't felt with his old sword.

"It looks beautiful." Layla said from next to him as she gazed at the blade. "Your mother knew what she was doing when forging this for you." Layla kissed Blake on the cheek. I would have loved to meet her.

Dante cleared his throat to get the attention of the young couple. "Ok you two save your makeout session for later." Both of them had a slight blush on their faces. "Blake you should be able to access more of your power now that you have your sword bonded to you."

"Why would the sword matter about the amount of power he can use?" Serana asked causing Dante to sigh.

"So many questions…" He took a deep breath and looked at Serana. "A Darkstrides' sword helps them to channel more of their inner beasts power. When I transform, my weapon takes on the form of a scythe and I look like the Grim Reaper. How I earned my nickname." Dante paused for a second as he thought of a better way to explain it. "Ok take Lake Ilinalta near Riverwood for example. You can only scoop out so much water with your hands but if you had a tool such as a bucket you could get so much more out. Same thing applies to the Darkstrides and their swords. It helps us channel and pull out more power." Dante explained. Serana nodded at the explanation and turned to look at Blake's sword.

"So what do we do?" Layla asked as laid back in bed.

Elissa patted the young woman's head. "You need to rest and regain your strength. I'll have my mother go to get my husband and the twins and bring them here to help repair our armor. I suspect that Dante has a plan for Serana and Blake." She looked over at Dante who gave a small nod before shifting his attention to Blake and Serana.

"Yeah. Serana needs to feed or else she'll go feral. I also need to train Blake and find out what kind of weapon he'll have when he transforms." Dante said. "We're going to Helgen. A bunch of bandits have set up shop in Helgen and have been terrorising merchants. Pretty decent bounty on them."

"H-Helgen?" Layla stuttered out as images of the events at Helgen flashed through her mind. She started to hyperventilate as she remembered Alduin about ready to kill her. She felt a hand slip into hers and she looked to Blake to see he had a reassuring smile on his face.

"Don't worry Layla. I doubt Alduin will attack the same place twice." He said and gave her a kiss on the lips which she happily reciprocated. They separated with Layla having a smile and a blush on her face. "I'll come back. I have my idiotic uncle there along with Serana." He gave her one more quick kiss before standing up and securing his sword to his waist.

Blake made his way past his uncle with Serana following behind, the Elder Scroll on her back. "This should be fun." Serana grinned as they both left the house to get ready to travel.

Dante looked at Layla with a kind smile. "You know… I've been watching him for a long time. Not a lot of people could really get him to open up the way he has with you." Dante patted the top of her head.

Layla blushed but blinked. "Wait you've been watching him for fifteen years? Why not make contact with him?"

"Hey he thought I caused the death of his mother for fifteen years. You try facing him when he believes that. I'm just surprised he listened to me for as long as he did." Dante shrugged.

Having enough of the conversation, Elissa started pushing Dante out of the room. "Out. I need to clean Layla up. Which means that I have to undress her. Go kill your stupid bandits and don't get my little brother killed." She growled out the last part before literally kicking him out of the room by planting a foot on his back and sending him flying out the door. Elissa slammed the door behind him before turning to Layla with a happy smile. "Come let's get you cleaned up, in some fresh clothing, and get some food in you. It'll be a few days before you're back to full strength."

Layla sighed and closed her eyes as she silently prayed to any gods listening. ' _Please keep Blake safe. Don't let him do anything reckless that would cause him to get hurt.'_

 **Warmaiden's Shop**

Dante found Blake and Serana at Warmaidens. A blacksmith shop right near the gates of Whiterun. Blake had ten Nordic daggers holstered into his vest. Serana was trying on some leather vambraces so she could have some protection on her forearms. Her hood was drawn up but her eyes could be clearly seen yet Adrianne didn't seem to mind that she was a vampire. Blake probably explained that she wouldn't harm her.

Dante cleared his throat getting both of their attention. "Both of you ready to go?" Both of them nodded as Serana paid for the vambraces she was putting on. Blake tightened the fingerless gloves on his hands. "Alright then let's go." He walked towards the gate with both of them. "It'll take us some time to get to Riverwood. So Blake… Mind telling us what happened at Helgen?"

 **A Few Hours Later**

The trio arrived a good distance away from Helgen and hid in the forest that surrounded it when they saw a bunch of bandits patrolling the walls. They looked fairly more organized than regular bandits did and better equipped.

"Alright so here's what we're going to do. We're going to split up and…" Dante said when a figure put Blake in a choke hold. Serana and Dante were both getting ready to attack when Blake chuckled and flip his assailant over his back and placed his foot on the person's chest. A loud grunt and a huff of pride came from the person laying on the ground.

"Damn you got me Brat!" A deep male voice echoed from the person beneath Blake's foot. "Your sister has trained you well. Now if you could get off me and help me the hell up I would very much appreciate it." Blake removed his foot from the man's chest and offered his hand to him. The man gripped Blake's forearm as he pulled him up. The man looked to be in his late twenties and towered over Blake. He was a good two heads taller than Blake and extremely muscular. He had long messy black hair that fell to his neck and most of body was covered in steel armor. A large greatsword rested on back along with a dagger at his belt. "Sup whelp?" He said with a grin.

"Hello to you too Farkas. You should know by now that I can easily get out of that hold." Blake grinned and punched the larger man's armored chest.

Farkas chuckled at his surrogate brother. "Eh I'll get you one day but I want to know why you're traveling with vampires. The one with the katana at his hip smells like you and looks a bit like you but the other one I have no idea." Farkas said as he glanced suspiciously at Dante and Serana.

"Farkas!" A smaller man looking a lot like Farkas but with long hair that was neatly kept and a steel sword at his belt emerged from the bushes. "Why did you just take off like that? You could have…" The man saw Blake, Dante, and Serana and drew his sword. "Vampires…" He growled out and got ready to charge before an knife impaled itself at his feet. He looked down at the knife and then up at Blake who had his arm outstretched. "Blake?" He asked confused.

"Chill Vilkas. The one vampire happens to be my uncle. Long story on that one. The other vampire is someone who can be trusted." Blake explained as he gestured to the two vampires. Serana waved nervously while Dante nodded at Vilkas and Farkas.

Vilkas looked between Blake and the two vampires and then to Farkas. "But…"

Farkas put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Vilkas just give the kid a chance to explain. I doubt Elissa would let him travel with vampires without good reason."

Vilkas just sighed and sheathed his sword before running a hand through his hair. "You're right but I still feel uneasy about the two." Vilkas took one more glance at Serana and Dante. He gave one more sigh. "Why are you out here near Helgen? I spoke to your sister early this morning when she came by. I could smell your scent on her and the scent of a fox as well but I never got to ask her since she just asked where Kodlak was. I told her and she went straight to his room."

Farkas looked confused. "She smelled like a fox? Is she taking in strays now? Wait you also smell like a fox a bit as well." Farkas looked to Blake who merely looked to the side with a slight blush on his face.

"Well she smelled like a fox because well… My girlfriend is a uhm…" Blake was unsure how the twins would take it and if they were here, they probably had another shield sister or brother with them.

"Oh so you have a girlfriend now eh?" A female voice made them all turn their heads to the source to see a woman with blue warpaint that looked like claw marks on her face. She was leaning against a tree with a very wide grin on her face. "Elissa must have left that part out when I saw her this morning after she barged into Kodlak's room while he and I were discussing recent Silver Hand activity."

"Ok I want you guys to agree to one thing before I tell you… Don't kill me." He said as all three looked at each other. They all turned back to Blake and nodded simultaneously. "She's a Werefox. A three tailed Werefox." The reactions were varied. Farkas had raised his eyebrows in surprise at this, Vilkas's jaw was open as he stared at Blake in shock, and Aela…

Aela was laughing hard. "A Werefox?!" She managed to get out as she laughed. Thankfully they were a good distance from Helgen so that the bandits wouldn't hear her laughter. "Oh my god!" She was laughing so hard tears were streaming from her face. A few minutes later she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Blake with a grin. "So you literally found a 'Foxy' Lady."

Blake growled and shot her a glare. "Yeah like I haven't heard that joke enough from my uncle already." He grumbled and Aela looked over to see Dante drinking a bottle of mead.

Aela tilted her head as she stared at Dante. "Ah so this is your uncle and the other vampire Elissa told me and Kodlak about." Aela said causing Blake to raise an eyebrow.

"She told you about them?" Blake seemed a bit relieved and surprised that Aela was not going for their throats.

Aela nodded. "Indeed she did. She told us that we were not to attack them. She promised us that they would cause no harm." She threw a dagger at Dante who caught it without even flinching. "So what brings you three out here to Helgen?" Aela asked as she walked up to Blake and wrapped him in a hug.

Blake hugged back while Dante answered the question. "Clearing Helgen of bandits. What are three lycans doing out here near Helgen."

Blake sighed as he figured his uncle would start something. "Uncle Dante please don't cause issues."

Farkas came over and use Blake as an armrest. "Eh don't worry kid. I can see he respects us. He understands us just like you understood us. The beasts within connect us all." Farkas said as he held out his hand towards Dante. Dante grinned and gripped the man's forearm causing Farkas to laugh. "Nice grip."

Vilkas rolled his eyes. "As for why we're here… This happens to be where a large group of Silver Hand members seem to be stationed."

"Silver Hand?" Serana who had been quiet in the presence of the three werewolves as she didn't want to cause any problems with her being there with someone they considered family.

"A group of well organized bandits who want to kill every Werewolf, vampire, or anybody who displays…" Aela looked at Blake with a grimace. "Any sort of bestial qualities. They have attempted multiple assassination attempts on Blake when he was but a young whelp." She ruffled his hair playfully and laughed when he swatted at her hand. "I'm assuming you're here to feed?"

Serana and Dante nodded. "Then why is Blake here? He is not a vampire." Vilkas asked as he checked Blake for any sign of vampirism.

Blake responded by unsheathing his sword. "Testing the limits of my full power."

Aela raised an eyebrow. "I thought you achieved your full potential long ago?"

"He didn't have his true sword." Dante explained as he told them about Darkstrides and the bonds to their swords.

"Ah I see." Aela said as she inspected the blade and the craftsmanship. "It is a marvelous weapon. We should split up into pairs. Vilkas and I will take the west entrance. Dante and Serana was it?" Serana nodded as Aela looked at her. "You two will take the east entrance. Blake and Farkas. You two will take the northern entrance." She laid out the battle plan to them. "There has to be about fifty or sixty Silver Hand members stationed here. Be careful and hunt well." She and Vilkas started making their way to the west entrance while Serana and Dante both seemed to disappear right in front of them.

Blake turned to Farkas who punched his shoulder lightly. "Looks like you're my shield brother today kid."

Blake punched right back. "I'm not part of the Companions remember? You must be thinking of the woman who can take you and Vilkas down barehanded." This got Farkas laughing as he patted Blake on the back.

"That may be so but you're still family and anybody who is family is a shield sibling in my book." Farkas grinned as he made his way to the northern entrance. They took positions on both sides of the gate. "Show us what that sword of yours can do." Farkas drew his two handed steel blade while Blake took a deep breath. Blake drew his sword and began channeling his power.

 **Helgen Tower**

The Silver Hand leader of the branch inhabiting Helgen stared out into the distance at Whiterun where the Companions resided. ' _This is so boring. We should be fighting those dogs right now but instead the leader has us fucking preparing ourselves and recruiting more members. We should attack right when the sun goes down. It would be so easy just to storm the damn place and kill everybody. Most people would be asleep.'_ The leader thought to himself as he took a sip of his mead. ' _God I wish something would happen soon.'_

The leader took another swig of his mead as a massive explosion blew open the north gate. He sputtered and choked on his mead as all of the men and women under his command ran around getting ready to combat whatever was attacking them. He looked to the north gate to see smoke rising from blue flames that ate away at what remained of the wooden gate. ' _What in Talos name?!'_ He thought as he grabbed his heavy nordic armor, nordic sword, and rushed down the tower to where his men were gathering at the north gate. He arrived next to some of his men who all had their bows drawn back with arrows and ready to fire.

He turned to his second in command, a muscular woman with two swords strapped to her waist. "What caused this? I have never heard of a spell that creates blue flames." He yelled at his second in command who didn't even react to his words. She was too busy staring into the smoke with fear in her eyes. "Hey are you listening to me?!" He yelled and grabbed her shoulder.

She simply raised a finger and pointed towards the smoke where the highlight of a seven foot tall man stood with some kind of blades attached to its arms. There was a faint blue glow to the blades on the arms and also a faint blue glow on its legs as well.

The figure emerged from the smoke to reveal Blake. Attached to his arms were a pair of blades on the outsides of his arms. The blades ran from his wrists to his bicep when his arms weren't bent. On the sides of his legs were smaller yet equally as deadly blades that were perpendicular to his legs, the tips of the blades facing the opposite direction from where Blake was facing. Each blade was completely covered in blue flames that didn't even seem to faze Blake. His clothing had enlarged to fit his enlarged frame and his violet eyes were glowing.

"A-Archers! Fire!" The archers fired and Blake raised his hands and a wall of blue flames rose in front of him turning all the arrows into ash. "R-Retreat!" The leader yelled as he and his men began falling only for two werewolves, a Vampire Lord, and a cloaked man with a scythe to block both entrances. They turned around to see another werewolf had appeared next to Blake.

"Shit we're surrounded!" One of the Silver Hand members. "We need to fight to get out of here! I am not becoming wolf chow!" He screamed and rushed towards Blake with his sword raised. Blake moved quickly towards the bandit and sliced right through him. The bandit remained up right for a few seconds before the top half of his body fell off and both halves burst into blue flames, turning into ashes in a matter of seconds.

Everybody was stunned except for Dante who chuckled. ' _Damn that kid is more powerful than I am now. I better not let him show me up.'_ Dante dashed into the crowd of Silver Hand members, cutting them down quickly with his scythe. Serana fired off magic spells at the members while also grabbing a few of them and breaking their legs so that she could feed later on. Aela and Vilkas also tore into the Silver Hand ranks. Their claws and teeth ripping into anybody that challenged them. They left a trail of bodies in their wake as they showed their ferocity. Blake and Farkas were also tearing into them. Blake and Farkas left a trail of blood, ashes, and bodies alight with blue flames.

Soon enough it was all over. There were a few left alive but they were quickly killed off when Dante and Serana fed off of them to sate their hunger. Serana let out a content sigh as she wiped the blood from her mouth. "It's not the best I've ever had but I'm not being picky right now." She looked over at Blake who was staring at his sword with a smirk on his face. "So was that uncommon what he did while fighting?" She asked turning to Dante.

Dante smirked as his nephew looked over at him with a smile on his face. He smiled at the memories of Blake when he was a child. He looked at Serana with a grin. "Every Darkstride can utilize darkness but their power evolves into something that is unique to them and only them. Blake apparently has control over a type of fire that turns anything it touches into ash in seconds. I never displayed mine because I don't wish to freak people out but I can bring back the dead just like necromancy but even more powerful."

"So is every Darkstrides' power violent and destructive?" Aela asked as she pulled arrows from the corpses.

Dante shook his head. "No. It's a combination of their interests, personality, and beliefs. Blake's mother for example, loved nature, animals, and gardening. As such her weapon was a spiked whip that poisoned her foes. Animals and Spriggans would be friendly towards her and assist her in battle." Dante explained as he recalled a memory of her coming into battle with a literal army of Spriggans at her back.

"That's quite interesting. To think that each Darkstride is powerful on their own but if they were wiped out by one child…" Vilkas whispered so that Blake wouldn't hear.

"Blake is the strongest Darkstride ever born but that doesn't mean he's invincible. The abilities are draining on the body both magically and physically." Dante explained. "We can take these forms for maybe about twenty minutes if we conserve our energy."

"Everything powerful has to have limits. Even the dragons have their limits." Blake said as he sat down on the ground. "Vurvoanai told me that. Same goes for Layla who has to wait a few seconds to be able to use the Thu'um." Blake explained as he bit into an apple he found in one of the barrels.

Farkas picked Blake up over his shoulder. "C'mon whelp… You're helping me look for new weapons. These guys have to have something useful on them. Don't forget the silver weapons too! We can melt the weapons down and turn them into ingots to sell." Farkas yelled as he dragged Blake away.

Dante grinned. ' _That kid found a whole new family that truly cares for him.'_ Dante stood up and followed them to help out with scavenging.

 **Ok so not much went on in this chapter except some explanations and Blake's new weapons. From now on the chapters will be more focused on Layla since I've mainly been focusing on Blake to tie things into the story more. I hope you all enjoyed.**

 **Lightning Ninja Out!**


	9. Chapter 9

Layla sat up in bed staring out at bustling street below where children were running around playing while their parents chatted amongst each other, keeping a close eye on their children all the while. It had been a day since Blake had left and she was feeling bored. Her injury had healed to the point where she could move around without any discomfort.

Layla let out a small sigh as she thought of what it would be like to have a family with Blake. How many kids would he want? Would he want to have many children so that the Darkstride clan could grow? She was snapped out of her thoughts when a knock echoed on the door. "Come in!" She called out.

The door opened and Lydia who was using a crutch to support herself, moved slowly through the door towards the seat right next to Layla's bed. "How are you my thane?" Lydia asked with a somewhat forced smile as she sat down on the chair. "Is your wound bothering you?"

Layla noticed Lydia's forced smile and sighed. "Lydia, I'm fine. I just need some bed rest for a few days and then I'll be good." Layla took her housecarl's good hand and gave it a small squeeze. "Lydia what happened wasn't your fault. We were all out classed by that monster. Even Elissa had a hard time fighting him. You're only human don't push yourself to fight like me or Elissa do. Our bodies are meant to take a beating." Layla said.

Lydia averted her gaze from her Thane's eyes. "I was useless against that vampire. He wasn't even transformed when he beat me. He punched right through my shield like it was paper. How do I expect to do my job of protecting you when I can't even hold my own in a fight?!" Lydia growled in anger at herself being too weak.

A slap echoed throughout the room as Layla slapped Lydia's cheek. "Enough Lydia. Do not talk down about yourself for something that was out of your control. I got hurt because I put myself in harms way. I do not regret taking that blade for Blake." Layla lowered her hand before looking at Lydia with a small smile. "This isn't your fault. We were all up against someone stronger and none of us had been prepared."

Lydia looked down at her broken arm and leg before looking up at Layla with a frown. She sighed before squeezing Layla's hand. "Fine but I will get stronger so that I'm more useful in a fight."

"Thank you Lydia." Layla smiled while carefully hugging Lydia as not to cause her any pain. Lydia hugged back with her good arm and stood up to go back to her room.

Layla sat there for the longest time before slowly getting out of bed. She pulled on a pair of trousers and a white button up shirt before slowly making her way down the stairs. She found Elissa sleeping in one of the chairs with a book on her face. Layla giggles before pulling the book off the woman's face and covering her with a blanket. Layla pulled a book off the shelf next to the wall and walked outside towards the Gildergreen to read her book. She sat down on the bench where the leaves covered her with some shade. Layla was about to open her book when she heard sniffling coming from the other side of the tree.

Layla got up slowly from her spot, leaving her book on the bench and walked around the tree to see a small girl no older than twelve crying her eyes out. She had blonde hair that was slightly dirty and looked extremely messy. She wore a green dress that was torn in a few places while other places looked to slightly stitched. "Hey are you ok?" Layla said as she sat down next to the little girl.

The little girl stopped crying as she looked up at Layla with red puffy eyes that held pain and loneliness. "I...I'm fine…" The little girl said as she averted her eyes away from Layla. "I'm sorry if I was bothering you with my crying." She said as she looked down at the cracks in the stone walkways.

Layla placed a hand on the young girl's leg while giving a kind smile. "Hey… It's ok to cry. Now why don't you tell me your name and why you're crying?"

"M-My name is Lucia… I'm… Alone and scared. I used to live on a farm with my mama but she passed away. My uncle and aunt took over the farm but then they forced me to leave saying that I was nothing but a no good leech that would just take up space…" She looked on the verge of crying but was surprised when Layla pulled her into a hug while rubbing the back of her head. "Mr. Brenuin was kind enough to help me out a bit but there wasn't much he could do. I've just been begging but nobody really cares to help me." She clutched onto Layla's shirt as she cried her eyes out.

Layla felt her heart hurt with sadness mixed with anger. ' _If I ever find her aunt and uncle, I'll have Blake show burn down their farm.'_ She thought as she comforted the small girl. An idea popped into her head as she looked in the direction of her home. "How about you come with me?" She asked causing the girl to pull herself out of the hug and stare at Layla like she had grown a second head.

"Y-You want me to live with you?" Lucia asked in disbelief and excitement.

Layla gave the young girl a bright smile. "Well of course silly. I have plenty of room and I'm sure my boyfriend won't mind." Lucia hugged Layla tightly causing her to wince slightly but hug back.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Lucia cried as she buried her head into Layla's shoulder.

Layla couldn't help but smile as she stood up, taking the girl's hand into her own. "Come now. Let's go get you some new clothes, some food in your stomach, and a bath." Layla walked back over to the bench she sat on previously so she could retrieve her book before leading Lucia back home.

All the while two people, a male and female, were watching from the stairs leading up to Dragonsreach with fury in their eyes. "That little leech is with someone else now. Now how do we get the farm back?! We need the brat so that Balgruuf will give us the farm back!" The female said seething as she stared at smiling Lucia.

The man put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll follow them and grab the girl while they're asleep tonight. I mean it's only one woman and did you see how she walked? Looks like she was recently injured which will make it easier to grab the kid at night. Hell we could probably even take the woman and sell her off as a slave. She can't be anybody too important right?"

They followed Layla and Lucia towards Breezehome unaware that Layla knew that they were following her. She heard their conversation with her enhanced hearing and also the fact that they were terrible at tailing someone without being seen.

Layla and Lucia stopped at Belethor's General Store to pick up some new clothing for Lucia and a doll. As she was walking out of the store, she was looking down at Lucia while she listened to the young girl ask her question after question like what she did for a living, if she was famous, and who her boyfriend was. Each question answered Lucia grew more and more excited. When Layla told Lucia about Blake, Lucia was so excited to meet him. "He should be back soon little one." Layla smiled. At that moment she ran into someone with very long and familiar black hair. "Blake!" Layla exclaimed as Blake turned around with a smirk that Layla knew all too well.

"Well looks like you're doing better. We just got back from clearing out that bandit camp. Dante and Serana had some business with my mother so they went back to the valley to go talk to her about the Elder Scroll and the Moth priest." Blake explained as he felt someone staring at him so he looked down to see Lucia staring at him with stars in her eyes. "Who's the kid?"

Layla then went on to explain what happened to Lucia and why she was with Layla at that moment. "I just couldn't leave her out here on her own. She needs a home that will love her." Layla said in a voice that left no objections from Blake.

Blake was seething with anger at a child not even in her teens being treated so harshly. "Don't worry. No objections from me about his. If anything, I would have done the same thing but if I ever meet those two idiots, I'm going to skin them alive." Blake growled as he kneeled in front of Lucia who was determined not to look afraid in front of Blake. "Sup kid?" Blake said with a grin.

Lucia stared at Blake before poking his cheek with her index finger while smiling. "You're eyes are really cool but Mama's eyes are prettier." Lucia pointed to Layla and her eyes. Layla's eyes widened at being called Lucia's mother but she gladly accepted it. If this girl wanted Layla as her mother she'd try to be the best mother she could be.

Layla's eyes moved over to a food stand where she saw the two people who had been following her and Lucia were conversing with Carlotta about her food stand. She didn't want to alert them that she was onto them. "Hey let's get home. We need to get some food in her and a bath." She looked back in surprise to see a woman with red hair and somewhat revealing armor using Blake's shoulder as an armrest.

"So Blake… Is this your girlfriend?" The woman asked with a teasing grin only to laugh when Blake tried to smack her arm away. "That's a yes." She eyed Layla up and down her eyes lingering on Layla's impressive bust and hips. "I must say… You got yourself quite the mate." Aela punched Blake's shoulder before offering her hand to Layla. "Aela. I'm from the companions."

Layla smiled and took Aela's hand. "Layla Embers. Nice to meet one of Blake's friends."

"More like second annoying older sister." Blake muttered causing Aela to smack the back of his head.

"Quiet you!" Aela growled causing Layla and Lucia to both laugh. Aela looked over at the two and smiled. "Come to Jorrvaskr tonight. We're having a party tonight to celebrate this lovable whelp finally getting a girlfriend." Aela laughed at Blake's scowl before walking off towards Jorrvaskr.

"Let's go home. I'm sure Lucia would like to hear more about some of our adventures?." Layla smiled as she stared down at Lucia who had a look of excitement in her eyes.

WIth that the three of them went home to find a still sleeping Elissa snoring on her chair.

 **Southeast of Falkreath: Darkstride Lands**

Serana and Dante came out of the small pass in the mountains that led to the Darkstride lands. Both vampires had been quiet since they left Helgen and not a word had been spoken between them causing the atmosphere to a bit awkward. The walked through the forest for a short time before reaching a small clearing where they saw the remains of a few deer scattered around a large flat rock. On the rock lay a sleeping Vurvoanai, her wounds almost completely healed. The vampire duo made their way towards the sleeping dragon who opened one eye to watch them.

"I can't sleep and heal in peace can I?" Vurvoanai huffed with annoyance causing flames to shoot from her nostrils. "What do you want?"

Dante stopped in front of the dragon. "The Elder Scroll. You probably know as much about these things as does that Moth Priest am I right?" He motioned for Serana to come forward with her scroll.

"There are many types of kel in this world. They all contain immense power and if used correctly, can do anything you wish." Vurvoanai explained as she raised her head to look at the vampires. "Such an example was when a man had used the Dragon Elder Scroll to banish Alduin from time until the last dragonborn arose from her slumber which she has."

"My father found the prophecy involving Auriel's bow in the Elder Scroll I carry now." Serana said as she held the scroll in her hands. "That's the only thing this scroll has ever done. The stupid prophecy that tore my family apart…" Serana's grip around the scroll tightened.

Vurvoanai's reptilian eyes softened as she stared at the woman in front of her. "Goraan gein." She said to get Serana's attention. "I understand that you are angry but do not let that anger and sorrow cloud your mind. The prophecy in that scroll is not the only thing that it might contain. The other abilities it possesses are just waiting to be discovered." Vurvoanai touched the tip of her snout to Serana's forehead causing Serana to smile a bit. "Your heart desires to be human again. The solution to your desire could lie within that scroll you hold."

Serana dropped the scroll to the snow before placing both her hands on Vurvoanai's snout as her smile widened. "Thank you." She said.

"You're welcome goraan gein. Now I suspect the other Darkstride has another question for me?" Vurvoanai looked over to Dante who was yet again on his third bottle of mead. "How are you not drunk yet?"

Dante shrugged. "Does it really matter? Do you know of any more Elder Scrolls in Skyrim?"

"I do but it has been lost for quite some time now and I fear it is no longer within Skyrim. The dwemer stole it from a companion of mine after Alduin's banishment." Vurvoanai growled. "The dwemer have probably locked it away somewhere nobody can reach it."

Dante closed his eyes and rubbed his chin as he thought of where they could get leads.

"What about the College of Winterhold?" Serana spoke up. Both Vurvoanai and Dante looked at her. "What? Back before I was sealed the College of Winterhold had plenty of researchers studying various things. Maybe one of them researched the Dwemer and the Elder Scrolls?"

"It's worth a shot and it's our only lead. We'll probably need to divide and conquer. Elissa and I can go make contact with the Dawnguard and then find the Moth Priest so he can read Serana's Elder Scroll while Blake, Serana, and Layla try and find the other Elder Scroll." Dante said as he picked up his bottles of mead.

Vurvoanai stretched her body and wings as she lowered herself closer to the ground. "I will fly us back to Whiterun. We will have to wait for Layla to finish healing then we will begin our searches." Dante and Serana climbed onto her back. With a single flap of her wings, she was airborne and flying in the direction of Whiterun.

 **Whiterun**

The sun was setting over the horizon and everybody was turning to their homes or the Bannered Mare for the night. Layla, Blake, and Lucia were sitting at the dining room table enjoying a while Lydia was sitting in the chair next to the fireplace reading a book. Elissa had gone to Jorrvaskr to drink with her old friends for the night.

"So have you been to a lot of places? Were you really raised by a dragon? Does your home really have a lot of land? Were you really best friends with the previous high king?" Lucia fired off question after question to Blake who answered all of her questions without even a pause.

"All over Skyrim. I was raised by the biggest baddest dragon to ever roam the world. The Darkstride lands could fit a couple armies and still have room to spare. I did know high king Torygg. He and I were the best of friends. I miss him dearly but I will bring Ulfric down and to justice for what he has done." Blake answered as he ruffled Lucia's hair.

Layla placed a hand on Lucia's shoulder. "Time to sleep little one."

Lucia pouted. "Awww Mama… I don't want to sleep. I want to know more about Blake's adventures."

Layla smiled as she kissed the top of Lucia's head. "Tomorrow you can as him even more questions about anything."

"Ok mama. Good night… and thank you." Lucia said as she placed a quick kiss on Layla's cheek and ran into the adjacent room where a bed was set up for her.

"She's a very curious child isn't she?" Lydia asked as she looked up from her book. "It angers me that someone as sweet and adorable as her could have such awful family members."

Layla's shoulder slumped. "About that…"

"Layla what's wrong?" Blake asked with concern in his eyes.

Layla was silent as her eyes went towards the room Lucia was sleeping in. She listened to Lucia's breathing to find that she was sleeping soundly. "Earlier after I found Lucia… I overheard two people talking about taking Lucia to Jarl Balgruuf and getting their land back. I saw them following us as we went to Belethor's. They're going to take her while we're all asleep." Layla said softly as not to wake Lucia up.

Blake and Lydia were silent for a moment as they processed the information.

"Let them come. We have a werefox, a Darkstride, and our secret weapon…" A grin broke on Blake's face.

"Don't you dare." Lydia growled as she knew where Blake was going.

"A damn good warrior." Blake finished causing Lydia to stare at him in shock while Layla burst into a fit of giggles. "What did you think I was going to say? You are a decent fighter after all." Blake said sincerely.

Lydia smiled. "Thank you Blake."

"Still part horker though." Blake grinned and ducked as the book Lydia was reading sailed over his head.

"Bastard." Lydia growled out as she through her cup at Blake.

"Now now you two… Enough fighting. Save it for future enemies." Layla said still giggling. "I'll stay with Lucia for the night. I'll keep a dagger with me." Layla went upstairs to fetch a pillow, a blanket, and a dagger while Blake helped Lydia up the steps.

"What will you do Blake?" Lydia asked as Blake helped Lydia into bed.

"Wait for them to break in. I'll put out all the lights and wait in a chair next to the door. Once they come in I'll shut the door behind them." Blake said as Lydia laid down and fell right asleep.

Blake left Lydia's room and saw Layla waiting for him next to the steps. "Be careful." She said before kissing him on the lips and walking down the steps swaying her hips as she walked.

' _More and more confident each day but damn if it doesn't make me want to…'_ Blake thought but then mentally slapped himself. ' _Protect the kid now, think about Layla later.'_ Blake walked down the steps, dragging a chair to the right of the door. He went about the house putting out all the candles and dousing the fire with water before taking a seat next to the door to wait.

A few hours later, Blake was sitting cross legged in the chair with his eyes closed as he listened for the sounds of anybody breaking in. Blake was using his shadows to keep himself concealed as he took in the lessons his uncle had taught him the day prior while they were scavenging Helgen.

Layla was fully awake as well as she sat up against Lucia's bed with a blanket covering her legs. She ran her hands through Lucia's blonde hair as she listened for the door to open. She heard the slight creaking of the front door and her hand immediately went to the dagger strapped to her thigh. She silently and slowly crawled towards the door. Layla opened the door a crack to see two people illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the window, creeping through her house. One of the intruders slowly made their way upstairs while the other one made their way towards the room she was currently in. Layla gripped her knife as she saw Blake drop the shadows around him and signaled to her that he was going after the intruder upstairs.

Layla closed the door while sitting against the wall waiting for the door to open. After a few moments, the door never opened. Layla, thinking that they had moved on, peeked through the keyhole only for the door to crash down and a large body to slam into her. Layla lost the grip on her knife and it flew to the other side of the room. Layla and her assailant struggled against each other but she was overpowered by the man on top of her and she was thrown out of the room and into the table.

"Fucking bitch!" The man screamed as he ran at her. Layla dodged out of the way and kicked the man in the stomach. He flinched but he grabbed onto her and pinned her to the floor. Blake and the other intruder who was Layla could see was a woman, came crashing down the steps. The woman had two iron daggers in her hand that look rusted but she was quick in keeping Blake away from her.

Layla tried to break free from her captor but didn't have any luck. The man had a strong grip on her. "MAMA!" Layla heard Lucia call. Layla turned to see Lucia charging at the man with her dagger held in both hands.

Lucia managed to stab the man in the thigh but all that did was make him angry. "STUPID BRAT!" He yelled and backhanded Lucia in the face. Lucia went crashing into the cupboard behind her.

Something inside Layla smacked at seeing Lucia being hurt and she called upon her fox form. The man was thrown backwards into the wall by Layla who stood above Lucia's unconscious form, four tails swaying behind her. Blue fire was alight along her spine as well as around her neck. The fire on her didn't catch onto any of the wood in the home but it glowed in the darkness giving her a more menacing presence to the man who was now getting up.

"Oh fuck this!" He cried as he tried running away only for Layla to pounce on him. She bared her teeth near his neck with a snarl. He whimpered and laid there quietly while Blake grabbed his partner's arm and threw her hard into the ground. The woman groaned in pain as her arm looked to be broken and the dagger in her remaining hand was broken.

Blake tied up both the intruders while Layla snapped her jaws at them every time they tried to make a move to escape.

"M-Mama?" Layla turned her head to see Lucia sitting up, staring wide eyed at Layla's fox form. Layla padded over towards Lucia and pressed her snout into Lucia's chest while purring to give the girl some comfort. Lucia hesitantly placed her hand on her mother's head and ran her hand through her fur. "Y-You're so soft and warm…" Layla's purring grew louder as Lucia began to run both her hands through her fur. "You're purring tickles!" Lucia said in a fit of giggles.

Layla shifted back and hugged Lucia close. "I'm sorry you had to see that side of me so early on. I was going to tell you eventually but I wanted to ease you into it first." Layla stroked her daughters head as Lucia snuggled into her.

"I-It's ok mama… You were trying to protect me from them." Lucia's eyes looked towards where Blake was hauling Lucia's aunt and uncle over his shoulder. "They came to try and take me back didn't they?" She said burying her head into Layla's embrace.

"Damnnn… This place is a mess." A voice came from the doorway. Layla looked over to see Dante looking around the house.

"Hello to you too Dante." Layla said rolling her eyes. "You and Serana done with whatever you needed to do?"

"Yep and we have a lot of work to do.

 **I'm back and I'm sorry this chapter isn't as good as the other ones. I'm getting back into the swing of school and getting back to writing my other stories so… Yeah. Glad to be back.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Castle Volkihar**

Lord Harkon sat on his throne staring down at his subordinate with a look absolute anger etched into his face. Harkon had slicked back black hair and a goatee that was a black as his hair. He had orange eyes that signified that he was a vampire lord, a Vampire Lord to be precise. He wore red royal vampire robes and armor. He drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair as he thought about the information his subordinate had given him.

' _So Dante's damn nephew was able to slay Movarth with ease. Dante had told me that the boy would never be able to unlock his inner beast and that the knowledge of the Darkstrides had been destroyed with their library.'_ Harkon thought bitterly. ' _On top of that… Dante killed Durzum and betrayed us. I knew I should have dealt with him sooner.'_ Harkon looked at his subordinate and cut his head clean off with his sword. "Useless minion. Instead of going after my daughter and the scroll, he comes here to report it while they get stronger." Harkon muttered as he cleaned his blade of the vampire's blackish blood.

Harkon turned around to see Vingalmo standing to the side watching with an impassive face. "Vingalmo. Next time send someone more competent to do the job. I have waited too long for this to be delayed any longer. Send your best men to finish off that traitor and the Darkstride boy. Get my daughter and the Elder Scroll. If they can, get the woman that is known as the Dragonborn. She would make a nice bride." Harkon said before walking off to his chambers.

Vingalmo watched as Harkon left before turning to walk to his own section of the castle. ' _Damnit Dante. What happened that made you act earlier than we planned? You were supposed to make Durzum's death look like it was done by Movarth."_ Vingalmo walked down the corridor deep in thought. He passed by the armory where he saw a few of his loyal subordinates who were just as much against the prophecy as was he and Dante. "Cylend, Suleerva, Maenee." Vingalmo called out. A male dark elf, female redguard, and female imperial looked up from their weapon and armor maintenance to see Vingalmo standing there looking at them. "Come with me." The three vampires quickly got up and followed Vingalmo out the door to his workspace and office.

"You asked for us sir?" The dark elf, Cylend, asked as he and the other two with him bowed. Cylend had dark grey hair that was styled so that his hair covered his missing right eye. He wore a master of destruction robe with a pair of steel gauntlets on each hand and steel boots. A daedric dagger hung at his belt in case of emergencies. He was a few centuries older than the vampires next to him but they each of them made up for the other's weaknesses.

Vingalmo nodded. "Yes. The plan Dante and I had set up has gone astray. Dante killed Durzum instead of Movarth killing Durzum."

"How the hell did that happen?" The imperial, Maenee, growled out. Maenee was a short woman with red hair tied in a braid over her left shoulder. There were scars across her neck indicating an injury from long ago. She wore elven armor with an elven sword and dagger at her sides. "Why did the plan change?"

"Dante's nephew got to Lady Serana and Movarth before they could." Vingalmo explained. "Blake is much stronger than we originally thought and he was easily able to overpower Movarth's Vampire Lord form."

The redguard tilted her head to the side and looked at Maenee while making some motions with her hand that looked like sign language. Despite being a vampire, she looked to be in her early twenties and was five foot eight inches tall. Dark skin matched her dark hair that was tied in a bun at the back of her head. She was dressed from her torso to her feet in steel armor while a two handed daedric battleaxe was strapped to her back. The redguard finished signing with a nod as Maenee turned to Vingalmo. "Suleerva wants to know if Blake is stronger than Dante. She's curious if he could give his uncle a run for his money and also wants to start a betting pool on whose stronger."

Vingalmo chuckled at Suleerva. "I'm unsure which one is stronger. Dante said that he would need help Blake's abilities mature just a bit more. However, from how he phrased it, it seems like Blake could possibly bring even Dante down." Vingalmo's answer seemed to make Suleerva's eyes sparkle with excitement.

A shadow appeared between the four of them with a rolled up parchment laying on top of the shadow like an offering to Vingalmo. "That must be Dante. Oh how I find the Darkstride clan's shadow abilities quite intriguing." Cylend said as he examined the shadow the parchment arrived with.

Meanwhile Vingalmo took the parchment, unrolled it, and began reading its contents. "Hmm… Seems like Dante is going to the old Dawnguard fort before he begins his search on the Moth priest while his nephew, the female dragonborn, and Lady Serana are going to the College of Winterhold to search for information on the dwemer and the location of another Elder Scroll." Vingalmo said as he placed the parchment back on top of the shadow. The parchment withered away into dust as the shadows disappeared. "You three may need to split up."

Suleerva, Maenee, and Cylend looked at each other before looking at Vingalmo. Maenee was the first to speak. "Suleerva and I will meet up with Dante and help him find the Moth Priest. Cylend can help those three with finding that Elder Scroll."

Cylend nodded at this. "Yes, that would be best. I can help them find any research pertaining to what they seek. This will also give me a chance to study the abilities of a Darkstride other than Dante." Cylend said rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Good luck to all of you then. I don't need to remind any of you how important it is that we stop Harkon but be quiet as not to raise suspicion." Vingalmo said as they nodded and left him in his office. ' _Lady Valerica, I hope you are safe. Soon enough you can return so we can better the clan.'_ Vingalmo thought to himself as he went to his desk and started filling out various documents.

 **Gates of Whiterun**

A few days after the incident at Breezehome, Layla, Dante, Blake, Elissa, and Serana stood in front of the gates of Whiterun with Lucia and Lydia standing at the gates with them saying their goodbyes. Lydia's arm was still in a sling but was healing quickly thanks to the healing potions she had gotten. Lucia was hugging Layla's waist.

"Be safe mama! I want to hear all about your adventure when you get home!" Lucia said giving Layla one last squeeze before letting go. She turned to Blake and put her fists on her hips to make herself looking as intimidating as possible. "Don't let her get I'll kick your but if she gets hurt!" Lucia said in a threatening tone which only made Blake chuckle.

"I promise she won't get hurt." Blake patted the top of Lucia's head only for her to try and swat it away making the group laugh.

Lydia walked over to Layla and hugged her with her one good arm. "Take care of yourselves out there."

Layla hugged Lydia back with a smile. "We will. I'll have Blake and Serana with me so everything should go well."

Lydia scoffed. "Something going as planned with Blake around? I find that extremely hard to believe."

"Hey I heard that!" Blake yelled with annoyance as he held Lucia at bay while she tried to hit him.

Serana, Dante, and Elissa watched them converse with smiles of amusement on their faces. The flapping of wings sounded and Vurvoanai came flying over Whiterun. She landed near the gates causing the guards to jump and eye her warily. Dante looked over at Vurvoanai who nodded at him. "Alright everybody time to go. We have a lot of ground to cover and the sooner we find the Elder Scroll and find the Dawnguard the better." Dante said as he climbed onto Vurvoanai's back.

Blake took his hand off of Lucia's head giving the small girl a chance to kick him in the knee before running back to Lydia who was laughing at Blake as he rubbed his knee. "Serves you right!" Lydia called to him.

Blake looked up and gave Lydia a rude gesture involving one of his fingers. Layla smacked Blake upside the head and chided him for using such a gesture in front of Lucia who was giggling all the while.

Layla and Blake were then pulled towards Vurvoanai by an impatient Serana who would have liked to see them continuing bickering but knew they didn't have time to waste. As Vurvoanai took off, Lucia and Lydia were waving to everybody on board the dragon.

Vurvoanai flew around the base of Skyrim's Throat of the World and flew towards Shor's Stone out in the rift. After an hour of flight, Vurvoanai landed outside the small village which startled a few of the patrolling guards who relaxed after seeing Layla, Serana and Blake disembark the female dragon.

"Alright you kids make your way to the college of Winterhold and for fuck's sakes don't cause any trouble." Dante said as he centered his gaze on Blake. "That means you Blake. Don't start shit with the Thalmor, Stormcloaks, or Imperials. We don't need to be involved in the blasted civil war."

"Serana, Layla you two are in charge of keeping him out of trouble." Elissa chimed in causing Blake to groan and throw stones at both Elissa and Dante.

Vurvoanai shook her head. "Ok if you bunch are done antagonizing Blake, we should get going. Dante where is this Dawnguard faction?"

Dante pulled out a map and studied it. "They're located in an abandoned fort stationed behind Riften." Dante closed the map.

"Good luck you three and be careful." Elissa said to the three of them. "If any of you die I will drag you out of hell and kick your asses myself." Elissa's mouth formed a small smirk as Vurvoanai took off into the air while letting out a massive roar.

"She's not serious is she?" Serana asked as she looked at Blake and Layla.

"Honestly… I don't doubt it. I saw her rip a man's skull out and beat him to death with it." Blake said with a shrug causing Layla and Serana to look at him with skepticism.

"Beating him with his own skull? That doesn't seem physically possible." Layla said as she pondered on how that would actually work.

"That's what he kept screaming while she beat him." Blake said as they started walking North through the Pale.

A few hours later they arrived in the town of Winterhold and things just seemed extremely bleak. There were very few buildings and the constant snowfall wasn't doing anything for the mood. There was probably one person outside other than the trio that just arrived. That person was a solitary guard who seemed more interested in keeping the small fire going.

Serana had her hood up to hide her eyes from other people. She was hugging herself tightly as another blast of cold wind blew into them. "I hate this weather… I thought the weather at my home was cold but this is just freezing." Serana muttered.

Layla was faring no better as she sneezed, her cheeks extremely red from the cold. "C-C-Can we just go into the inn for a second and warm up." Layla asked as she breathed into her hands to heat them up.

Blake, who no surprise wasn't affected by the cold due to growing up in a valley that had similar weather, nodded at the two. "You two go in. I'll be right behind you in a second." He said as both women quickly moved towards the inn and went inside.

Blake stood out in the snow for a few seconds before moving behind one of the burned down and ruined buildings out of sight of the guard. He placed a hand on his sword as the sound of someone walking through the snow came from behind him. He quickly spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the person tailing him.

The sound of a crunching snow and a thud against the wooden wall of the house meant that he had struck his target. He looked at the wall where he saw someone standing there holding their gut. "Who are you and what do you want?" Blake said keeping a hand on his sword.

The person held up a finger as they were trying to regain their breath. The person pulled off their hood to reveal a male Dunmer. "One… Second…" He said as he rested his hands on his knees.

After a few seconds the Dunmer stood up and Blake was instantly on guard as he noticed the Dunmer had the eyes of a vampire. "Wait wait… I'm an ally. I know you're Uncle Dante. His associate Vingalmo sent me to assist you."

Blake let his hand rest on the hilt of his sword. "Ok I'm listening."

The Dunmer let out a sigh of relief. "As I was saying, I work with Vingalmo who works with your Uncle Dante. He sent me here to assist you in finding the Elder Scroll that the Dunmer stole. My name is Cylend Valaara it is a pleasure to meet you Blake Darkstride." Cylden said as he pulled his hood up. "Let us see the rest of your party. I wish to see how Lady Serana is fairing." Cylend said as Blake simply nodded while lowering his guard slightly.

 **Outside Fort Dawnguard**

Vurvoanai landed next to a small semi frozen pool of water, laying down low enough for Dante and Elissa to climb off of her back. As Dante climbed off he could see a bunch of armored men and women approaching them with crossbows in their hands. At the head of the group was a man with a warhammer strapped to his back. He had dark skin that indicated that he was possibly a redguard. His head was shaved but he had a full beard of dark hair. His body was covered in an unusual armor that Dante had never seen before but it looked to be quite heavy.

"Stay right where you are you Vampire Leech." The man said in a gruff voice as he glared at Dante. "I want to know one good reason why I shouldn't let my men fill you with crossbow bolts and leave your rotting carcass in the sun."

Dante stood there for a second before he burst out laughing making the soldiers tense up while Vurvoanai and Elissa looked at him with confusion. After a full minute of laughter, Dante composed himself and let a bunch of shadows rise from his own shadow. "I'm here because just like you I want to end the vampire attacks across skyrim. I have information that could be vital towards stopping these attacks and if you kill me… Well first you'd actually have to hit me." Dante said as he unhooked his sheath from his belt and held it in his left hand.

"Wait… Shadows… A katana… Jet black hair… You're a Darkstride." The man put the pieces together as he analyzed Dante. "Stand down. As much as I hate to admit it… This is a fight we could never win." He grumbled reluctantly. "Very well… Follow me but if you attack any of my men I'm going to let a few spells turn you into ash." He said as he led Dante and Elissa towards Fort Dawnguard. Vurvoanai stayed behind so she could go hunting.

They entered what was known as Fort Dawnguard. The fort looked like it could have been a castle with how easily it dwarfed other forts throughout skyrim. "Wow this place is huge." Elissa muttered as she looked around at the inside of the fort.

"Yes it is. Took awhile getting this place fixed up." The leader of the Dawnguard said as he led them into an adjacent room that was filled with maps and schematics. "My name is Isran. I know who the woman is. Elissa of the Silver Flash, a woman who could clear out entire forts of bandits without a single scratch. Now who is the leech with you."

Elissa seemed rather pleased that others could still recognize her while Dante seemed a bit miffed at being called a leech. "My name is Dante Darkstride and this so called leech could wipe the floor with you in a matter of seconds." Dante growled as Isran simply smirked.

"Boys enough." Elissa said in a sweet tone that sent shivers down both men's spines. "We came here to inform the Dawnguard about what the vampire's plans not to fight." Elissa's gaze went to Dante who looked somewhat sheepish. Her gaze then went to Isran who seemed to stiffen at her gaze. "We could simply leave you in dark about their plans and share the information with either the Stormcloaks or the Imperials. Maybe they would settle their differences until we took down the vampires."

Isran simply stood there with his jaw hanging open. He had spent a lot of time, gold, and materials into reforming the Dawnguard and all of that would just go to waste if he couldn't join the fight. Isran reluctantly sighed. "Fine but this information better be worth it and there better be no more vampires coming here."

As if the gods were mocking him, two vampire women were led into the room that they were all standing in by a pale faced nord. "Uhm… These two were brought by the dragon who told me to bring them to you." The nord stammered as he felt Isran's glare on him.

Isran dragged a gloved hand across his face. "Oh for the love of… Fine get out of here. Go practice your aim." He growled as the two women parted for the scared nord.

Dante looked at them, "Suleerva, Maenee." Both vampires smiled at him and waved. "How did you get Vurvoanai to bring you here?"

Maenee laughed, "We found her eating a deer and simply asked if she knew you." Maenee looked at Suleerva who was signing something to her. "Oh right I almost forgot." Manee punched Dante in the gut. "That was for fucking up the plan."

Isran looked at the weezing Dante with a small smirk. Maybe those two vampires were as bad as he thought. "Now what do you two want?" Isran's face got serious as he looked at the two vampires.

Suleerva signed something to Maenee who nodded. "We're here to assist Dante and Elissa. A friend of ours has gone to assist the rest of your group in obtaining the Elder Scroll that is needed for that stupid prophecy."

"What's this about an Elder Scroll and a prophecy?" Isran asked as he began to feel fear creep into his soul.

Elissa looked at Isran and began explaining about the prophecy to block out the sun, the need for someone to be able to read the prophecy, and what would happen should this prophecy be fulfilled.

 **Winterhold**

Layla and Serana stared at Cylend as he sat on the bench next to them. "So… You're going to help us find the Elder Scroll?" Serana said tapping her finger against the table. "Ok but where do we even begin?"

Cylend stroked his chin as Blake leaned against the support beam listening to their conversation. After a few minutes of thought Cylend looked at Serana and Layla, "I heard that there was a man studying the dwemer before he disappeared from the College of Winterhold. Apparently he had an apprentice who knew almost as much as he did. So we talk to him or her first and see if they know anything." Cylend explained as he discreetly pulled out to vials of blood and handed one to Serana before downing his own.

Serana looked at the blood and downed it in one go. Layla looked at Serana and then at Blake who seemed deep in thought. "Blake is something wrong?"

That seemed to snap Blake out of his thoughts. "Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine. I'm just thinking about what the dwemer wanted with the Elder Scroll in the first place. They killed a man considered a hero for this scroll so obviously they had something planned."

"We may never know. The Dwemer are gone and no one has seen them in a long time." Serana said as she set the vial down and stared at Blake.

"Then let's go find it! We find this apprentice then we find the man who studied the Dwemer! We find him then he can lead us to the Elder Scroll!" Layla said jumping up from her spot. The group exchanged glances.

"So this energetic girl is the Dragonborn?" Cylend said jokingly causing Layla to puff out her cheeks.

Blake cracked a grin at Layla's childish face, while patting the top of her head. "Indeed she is. Though she used be a bit shy."

Layla tried to pull Blake's hand off her head but had no such luck. Blake laughed at her attempts to get him off of her before he picked her, throwing her over his shoulder as he did. Layla let out some laughter as Blake decided to spin her around.

Meanwhile Serana and Cylend watched on. "They are quite the interesting pair." Cylend commented as he took a sip of his ale.

Serana didn't respond which caused Cylend to look out the corner of his eyes to see her with a look of longing on her face. She looked deep in thought as she watched Blake and Layla. Cylend was able to put the pieces together of Serana's lack of response. ' _She's never had a normal life even before becoming a child of the night. She never got to experience the wonders of finding a person to truly love and care for since she was constantly dealing with suitors brought by her parents.'_ Cylend let out a deep sigh as he realized how Serana truly felt.

"I believe we should get moving. The quicker find the Elder Scroll, the faster we deal with this blasted prophecy." Cylend said as he finished his ale and stood up. Blake let Layla down and grabbed their stuff. Serana looked at Cylend with a serious expression.

They paid for their drinks and food before making their way outside and in the direction of the College of Winterhold. They walked up the steps that led to the bridge only to be stopped by a high elf who looked at them with narrowed eyes. "I hope you aren't planning any trouble. We already get enough hassle from the nords in the village as it is." She said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

Cylend stepped forward, bowing to the woman as he did. "We are not here to cause any trouble. We are actually here to see the apprentice of the mage who studied the dwemer."

The high elf's eyes saddened at the mention of the dwemer researcher. "Ah… Forgive me for my rudeness. I guess I jumped to conclusions too quickly. My name is Faralda, a teacher here for destruction magic. If you're looking for Septimus's apprentice, you'll find her in the Arcanaeum. Go across the bridge, through the main doors across the courtyard, and then up to the second floor." Faralda said as she gestured to the college. "That girl hasn't been the same since Septimus left. She just keeps going over his notes to see if she can figure out where he went."

Cylend nodded and motioned for the group to follow him. They crossed the bridge to find a snow covered courtyard with a large statue of a mage near the pool of mana. The group stopped when they saw a female brenton with dirty blonde hair arguing with a male high elf who wore Thalmor clothing. The Thalmor looked about ready to lash out at the female brenton when a snowball smacked into the side of his face, slightly shocking him and redirecting his anger at the person who threw the snowball. His eyes fell on Blake who was dusting the snow off of his hands. Serana and Layla were both trying, and failing, to suppress their laughter while Cylend simply ran a hand over his face with a sigh.

"You just assaulted a Thalmor agent! How dare you!?" The Thalmor growled with anger. "Who do you think you are?!"

Blake simply looked at the Thalmor. "You looked like you needed to chill out." He said as he shrugged his shoulders.

At this point Serana and Layla burst out laughing with tears rolling down their faces. Even Cylend had a small smile on his face. The female brenton was even chuckling. The Thalmor looked even more pissed off then. "I am Ancano, a high ranking member of the Thalmor. You will show me respect or you will die!" He raged at Blake.

"Oh didn't Elenwen tell you? I'm under Jarl Elisif's protection. You can't do anything against me." Blake said crossing his arms. "Name's Blake Darkstride and I suggest you go for a walk and cool down."

Ancano stood there with clenched fists ready to throw a spell at the man who mocked and humiliated him. Attacking him would solve the Thalmor of a thorn in their side but it would most likely bring more problems than it was worth. Ancano then made the smart decision to walk away. "Fine but if you cause any trouble I'll be the one locking you up." He said as he walked away to do some sort of business.

The group watched him walk away. The brenton let out a sigh as she looked down at her book. "As much as I liked seeing that man get what he deserved, I feel it's going to cause more problems. I am Mirabelle Ervine, assistant to the Archmage." Mirabelle game a soft smile to the four in front of her. "I assume you have business to attend to here at the College?"

"Yeah we're here to find Septimus's assistant and then find Septimus himself." Layla explained.

Mirabelle nodded. "His assistant is in the Arcaneum. Through the door to the right of the main door." She said as she pointed to large double doors.

Layla nodded and thanked Mirabelle for her help as she began leading the group into the college and up into the Arcaneum. When they got to the Arcaneum they were all surprised to see the immense amount of books that were in the circular room. There were bookcases filled to the brim with books. In the left hand corner there was a stable covered in scrolls, books, dwemer schematics, and what looked like handwritten notebooks sitting on the table. Some of the books were covering the head of a person who was obviously asleep based on the snoring.

Knowing that this was the person they were looking for, they walked up to the table and waited to see if the person would hear them approaching. They did not even stir from their slumber as he or she slept.

Cylend cleared his throat to try and get the attention of the person. They still didn't wake up even after Cylend cleared his throat a second time but louder. Blake was becoming impatient and so decided to shake them awake.

"Hey wake up!" He growled impatiently causing the person to shoot up in their seat revealing a mop of curly red hair, a freckled face, and square rim glasses. The person was obviously female based on the facial structure and the rather large chest area that could put most women to shame. The woman looked to be around thirty years of age Blake recoiled in surprise but not at the suddenness of the woman sitting up, it was for a different reason. "No way…"

Behind the square rimmed glasses were a pair of deep red eyes the exact same as Blake's eyes. "Blake?" The woman said obviously not believing who was in front of her.

"Cousin Gwendolyn?"

 **I know I'm leaving it on a cliffhanger and forgive me for my lack of updates! Life has been busy and curve balls have been thrown left and right at me. I barely had time to write my Fallout story what with classes being really demanding and the fact that I have to take a summer course that gives me a huge workload every week! Expect more constant updates now! I promise I swear! See you guys in the next chapter!**


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